


The New Generation

by rivalmagician



Series: Reincarnation Series [2]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Young Avengers
Genre: AU, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, Future Fic, High School, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-20 21:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/589867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivalmagician/pseuds/rivalmagician
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil and Clint start high school and meet some extraordinary young people who may one day become the future of the Avengers. In the meantime they have to deal with homework, bullies and awkward awkwardness. However, they may be forced to step up sooner than expected with the prospect of an alien invasion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back... 
> 
> This story kind of puts the Amazing Spider Man in the future of the Avengers. So at this point, it has been almost fifteen years since the Chitauri invaded Earth. Which actually makes it about 2027. Weird.

Phil is fourteen years old and it’s his first day of school. The quad of Midtown High School seems incredibly busy. Students are pouring out of school buses, being dropped off by their parents and just swarming all over the place. Everybody seems to know where they’re going but him. He desperately wants to jump back into the car but Happy is giving him an encouraging smile and two thumbs up. 

“Have a good day at school, kiddo,” he calls out before driving off. 

It’s OK, he reassures himself. Phil’s dealt with far worse things than high school so far in his life. It was his own idea to start going to school, up until no he’d only ever been home schooled, at first by his dad and then by the Avengers, which led to an unbalanced but varied curriculum. It was between Tony’s perplexing lesson on thermodynamics and Steve’s art class which involved quiet sketching time that Phil realised that he should probably go the school and get a little more socialised. 

Phil thought very hard about his wardrobe for today. He really wants to make the right impression, to fit in for the first time in his life. So he spurned the generally expensive designer clothes that Pepper usually buys for him and settled with jeans, a blue button down short sleeved shirt and a pair of fairly new sneakers. He grips nervously on to the straps of his backpack and makes his way through the crowds.

“Hey,” somebody slots in walking beside him, she’s a pretty blonde girl about Phil’s age, “Are you a freshman too?” 

Phil nods, “My name’s Phil Coulson,” 

“Gwen Stacy,” she says actually holding out her hand for Phil to shake, “You weren’t at Midtown Middle School, were you?” she asks. 

“No,” Phil says, he knew he’d have to confront this eventually, “I’ve been home schooled,” he admits.

“Seriously?” Gwen smiles, “That’s awesome, I wish I was home schooled. Actually, I don’t because then my dad would probably be on my case all the time,”

Phil smiles, he was nervous but Gwen has a reassuringly friendliness that calms him down, “It was alright, kind of lonely I guess,” 

“That’s too bad,” Gwen says, she has a little map of the school, “I think were supposed to go this way to pick up new timetables, stay with me and we can get lost together,” 

Phil thinks that this might be the longest conversation he’s ever had with some his own age, barring Clint of course. He wonders how Clint’s doing at his new school.

* * * * * 

School sucks. School will always suck, Clint decides, no matter how old he is. The only way it could have been made slightly better would be if Phil was there with him, but no Phil had to go to Midtown High while Clint went somewhere closer to his home. Clint’s school is loud, noisy and smelly. And his stupid locker won’t open. 

“Stop thumping it, you ape,” his locker neighbour tells him.

Clint finally manages to wrench it open and is immediately hit by the smell of gym kit and old sandwiches, “Wow, that stinks,”

“Oh great,” his neighbour says, a dark haired girl with a disdainful look directed towards Clint, “I’m next to the stink locker,”

“Hey, I own the stink locker,” he grumbles.

The girl ignores him and continues adding a few home touches to her locker door by way of a few magnets and pictures. Clint recognises a very familiar one.

“Hey, is that Hawkeye?” he asks pointing towards a copy of one of the few photographs that was taken of the archer. 

She bats away his pointing hand, “Look with your eyes, no touching,” she tells him. 

Clint hasn’t made his first new friend yet. 

* * * * * 

When Phil and Gwen receive their new timetables they discover that they share homeroom. They go to the classroom together but Gwen soon breaks off to talk to a group of girls she knows from junior high and starts chatting at lightning pace with them. Everyone else in the classroom is talking and catching up as they wait for the teacher. Phil’s already feeling a little overwhelmed. 

Phil sits down next to a gangly kid with his nose in a textbook. The guy’s wearing a pair of battered glasses and his limbs look like they’re growing at different speeds. Phil thinks that he should work up the courage to say hello to him, but before he can somebody claps their head around the back of the kid’s head, startling him and knocking the book out of his hands. 

“Oops, sorry Parker,” the offending party says, not very apologetically. 

The kid, Parker, just rolls his eyes and gets up to pick up his book. As he does though, the jerk unbalances him with his foot, sending him forward onto the floor. Parker just looks wearied, like this has happened a thousand times before. 

“Stop it,” Phil finds himself saying. 

The jerk turns towards him in surprise, “Stop what?” he demands the blonde meathead, who already towers above the rest of his classmates. 

“You know what,” Phil tells him, as if he were speaking to a wayward child. 

The jerk responds by sliding Phil’s backpack off of his desk and onto the floor, “Are you going to stop me?”

Phil can’t actually believe that people like this exist outside of crappy teen comedies. 

“I don’t like bullies,” he tells the guy firmly and fixes him with his best glare. The one that usually sends Tony into a head fit. 

The jerk doesn’t look like he’s intimidated but at the same time he seems to be losing interest, “Whatever,” he says dismissively. 

Parker’s already got to his feet and sat back down at his desk. He nods in appreciation but doesn’t say another word. 

Phil hasn’t made his first new friend yet. 

* * * * * 

Clint’s new English teacher decides that it'll be fun to seat all the kids randomly herself. That’s how Clint meets his locker neighbour again.

“Oh, it’s you,” she doesn’t sound too pleased to see him.

“I’m Clint Harrison,” he tells her, “And you must be…”

“Kate Bishop,” she says uninterestedly, “Yay,”

The English teacher is clearly a recently graduated optimist because she tells them they’ve got to find out five new things about their nearest neighbour. The class soon devolves into noisy chatter that soon gets out of hand. 

Kate seems reluctant to talk. 

“Have a good summer?” Clint asks, Kate examines her nails, “I did, I do this intern thing at Stark Enterprises…”

He doesn’t really. It’s actually just a cover and an excuse to hang out with Phil. They mostly spent their time watching movies, going to comic book stores and making out. Tony wanted to take them on holiday but Pepper put her foot down at taking Clint out of the country without his parents’ permission, she hates that Clint has to lie to his parents all the time. But anyway, making out is fast becoming Clint’s favourite thing to do. 

“I spent the summer learning ju-jitsu,” Kate tells him seriously.

“That’s cool, I do some martial arts,” Clint nods, which is true because Natasha’s been teaching him some awesome moves. 

“I also play cello,” Kate continues, she’s beginning to open up a bit but she’s still scowling at him. 

“That’s the big violin, right?” 

“Big violin?” she says disparagingly, “You’re an idiot,”

* * * * * 

Phil has math class that morning; he seems to be ahead of everyone except the Parker kid. Then he has woodwork which is just perplexing. Then he has history, which the teacher somehow manages to make boring so Phil is reduced to doodling in his notebook. 

At lunchtime he goes and sits outside on a free bench. He opens up the lunch that a surprisingly domestic Happy made for him and pulls out a piece of paper with a smiley face on it from Pepper. He’s just about to start on his sandwich when someone stands over him.

“Hey, can I sit here?” the nervous voice asks, it’s the Parker kid.

“Sure,” Phil nods. 

“I’m Peter by the way,” he says, sitting down and taking out his own lunch, “Thanks about this morning; you didn’t need to do that. Flash has a short attention span, he would have got bored eventually,”

“His name is Flash?” Phil asks in disbelief. 

Peter laughs, “Yeah, it’s a nickname. He’s actually called Eugene,” 

They small talk for a while until the subject of Phil living in Avengers Tower comes up. Peter looks awed. 

“It’s like I’ve died and gone to geek heaven,” he gasps, “Do you see them sometimes,”

“Yeah, sometimes,” Phil plays it down, it wouldn’t be good if he started spreading the fact that he spent a good part of his weekend making cookies with Captain America and practicing yoga with the Hulk. No matter how cool that might make him with the rest of the school. 

Peter’s head looks like it’s about to explode, “So do your parents work for Stark Enterprises?” he asks. 

“My foster parents,” Phil corrects, suddenly becoming very interested in his half eaten sandwich, “My parents died last year,”

Peter nods sympathetically, “Mine are dead too, when I was four,” he sighs, “I live with my aunt and uncle,”

There’s a moment of quiet solidarity between the two of them. But once that’s over Peter gets out a travel sized chess set and they play for the rest of lunch. Phil manages to relax a little bit more.

* * * * * 

Clint wonders just how school can manage to make fun things boring. He has gym class that afternoon, which Clint should, in theory, love. He always has a lot of energy, he likes running around but gym class is always so mindlessly competitive and unchallenging. The disinterested teacher sends them running laps around the football field before disappearing back to the staff room; most of the students walk around the field, some wonder off themselves and only a handful decide to keep running. 

Clint’s near the front of the group, just behind a freakishly blonde kid who looks like he hasn’t even broken a sweat yet, even though they’re on their third lap. Clint’s determined to catch up with him but every time he levels with the guy, he kicks up the speed another notch and moves forward another couple of feet. 

After another lap of this, their teacher returns and tells them to stop. Clint falls down gasping to the ground, along with a lot of the other runners, but the guy at the front of the pack just stops. Not even out of breath. 

“How…are…you…even…still…standing?” Clint gasps.

The guy just examines some imaginary dirt underneath his nails and says, “I’m awesome, deal with it,”

And that’s Tommy Shepherd, he’s kind of a dick. 

* * * * * 

Peter and Phil have biology together last period. It’s nice to have someone to talk to and Peter is a science nerd, he understands things that make Phil’s head hurt. 

They leave the class together and go out into the crowded hallway. They’re walking alongside each other when Flash comes up behind Phil and smacks the books out of his arms before walking off cackling. 

Phil looks sadly down at the pile of books at his feet, struggling to understand what just happened, “But…why?” he asks Peter. 

Peter has no answer but a sad shake of the head. 

“Hey, Flash you’re a jerk!” a high pitched voice bellows down the hallway. An indignant Gwen helps Phil pick up his books, “Had a fun first day?” she asks him.

“Mixed,” Phil replies with a smile, “Thanks,”

“No problem,” she says straightening up and noticing Peter, “Hi, Peter,”

Peter responds with a something like, “Mhejfhsk,” which makes Gwen smile.

“See you around,” she says waving goodbye and heading outside. 

Peter face palms.

“What is wrong with you?” Phil asks disbelievingly.

“I have an excess of awkward,” Peter mumbles, “I didn’t know you knew Gwen Stacy,”

“I just met her this morning,” Phil explains, guessing that Peter doesn’t have a lot of experience talking to girls. And this particular girl has a very strong effect on Peter.

“OK, I’m going home now,” Peter says with another embarrassed moan. 

“See you tomorrow,” Phil waves after him.

Phil heads off himself, he’s going to go meet his boyfriend. 

* * * * * 

Phil’s already waiting at their agreed meeting place when Clint gets there. Amazingly enough he looks like well turned out even after a day at school, his shirt even looks freshly ironed. Clint on the other hand looks exceptionally dishevelled; his shirt is creased, his bag is hanging half off his shoulder and he’s pretty sure his shoes are untied. 

He still manages to creep up behind Phil though and place his chin on his shoulder, “How was school? Find a new boyfriend yet?”

Phil isn’t startled by his appearance, “Oh yes, he’s captain of the football team. He carried my books and let me wear his jacket,” Phil delivers in a dead pan voice, “He’s dreamy,”

“Dreamy? I’m dreamy,” Clint says defensively. 

Phil looks unconvinced but still kisses him anyway. Clint takes his hand and they head off in the direction of the tower. 

“So other than your new boyfriend,” Clint continues, “You have fun? Or are regretting it?” 

“No, it was weird though,” Phil says pensively. 

“That’s school for you,” Clint nods. 

When they get to the tower they head up to Phil’s apartment; Happy and Pepper are still at work so they should have the apartment to themselves. They should. But they don’t.

Steve, Tony, Bruce and Natasha are waiting for them. 

“Hey guys,” Tony says incredibly patronisingly, “How was school?” 

Phil sighs dejectedly. Recently Pepper’s been on a particularly observant whenever Clint comes over; she doesn’t let them close the door to Phil’s bedroom, brings them snacks without warning and is apparently now sending the Avengers to act as babysitters. 

“It was fine, thank you,” Phil says pointedly. 

“We just stopped by to…well, we just stopped by,” Steve says, he’s a really crappy liar. 

“Aren’t you guys all busy?” Clint says, “You know being superheroes, running companies…stuff like that,”

“No,” Bruce says with a smile, “Do you want some tea?” 

Clint spends valuable time, that he could have spent making out with Phil, sitting on the couch between Tony and Steve sharing a conversation of significant looks with Natasha. She seems apologetic for the intrusion. 

Phil, meanwhile, begins to recount his day. Clint’s attention is particularly grabbed by the repeated mention of a guy named Peter. He learns something about himself; apparently he’s the jealous type. He really wishes that he had been able to go to Midtown High. 

When he gets up to go to the kitchen for a drink, Natasha follows him, “How’s things at home?” she asks. 

Hectic, he wants to say. Jeanie finally managed to save up enough money to move in with a couple of friends from college but Annie’s plans to move in with her boyfriend to have her baby fell through. Clint’s pleased about that because the guy was a loser, but consequently he has to deal with his new born nephew crying through the night in the room next door to him. If a disgruntled baby Michael wasn’t bad enough, his dad got laid off again and his mom had to get another job.

And here he is hanging out with a billionaire. 

“Fine,” Clint grunts. 

“Uh-huh,” Natasha says sounding unconvinced. 

“Things are a little tough right now but they’ll get better,” Clint insists. 

Not long after that Clint makes his excuse and decides to head home. He’s babysitting tonight after all. Phil shows him to the door, “Sorry about them, we were supposed to spend the afternoon together,”

“I wish we could go round to my house,” Clint says grumpily. 

“You’re parents think I’m dead,” Phil reminds him.

“Don’t remind me about that,” Clint tells him and goes in for a kiss. He hates thinking about that short period of time when he though Phil was dead. It was quite honestly the worst time of his life. 

When their kissing gets a little heavier, they’re interrupted by a loud, purposeful cough. Steve is standing around the corner, looking awkward. 

“Oh come on,” Clint says outraged, “What do you think we’re going to do?”

“Just following order,” Steve insists. 

Clint leaves the tower, feeling tense and a little wound up at not having been able to be alone with Phil. He doubts that when the time comes for them actually to do anything more than kissing, that they’ll actually be given the time and space. The Avengers seem determined to preserve both of their virtues.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Phil get settled at their new schools and begin making friends. Clint finds a way to get really close to Phil but is then completed embarrassed by his mom. Meanwhile, the Avengers are faced with a threat that turns them against each other.

It’s Friday night and as usual Clint is round Phil’s house, they’re watching a movie in Phil’s room and Clint feels just a little bit evil. It started off as relatively innocent, it was Halloween and he suggested that they watch Night of the Living. It was hokey and in black and white, it was so completely not scary. Or at least Clint thought it wasn’t; Phil, on the other hand, spent most of the movie pretending not to be scared but eventually gave in and buried his face in his sweater.

“Phil?” Clint frowned, “You’re not scared, are you?” he laughs.

“Shut up!” replies Phil, his voice muffled by his sweater but still angry sounding. 

Phil, who faced down HYDRA agents without blinking an eye, is scared of fictional, shambling zombies, “Oh come on,” Clint laughs, “They’re not scary, you could outpace them at a jog,”

“That’s not the point,” Phil flinches, burrowing in closer to Clint. 

Clint suddenly gets the point of horror movies. Every time something frightening happens on screen, Phil moves in closer to Clint’s side until he’s finally pretty much in his lap. 

“Don’t worry,” Clint chuckles, “I’ll protect you from the zombies,”

“It’s not funny Clint,” Phil snaps, kind of crabby at being scared of something on the television, “It could happen,”

“There’s not going to be a zombie apocalypse,” Clint bursts out laughing, “And if there is, I’ll get my baseball bat and protect you,”

Its several weeks since Halloween and every week since Clint has found a new horror film. Phil gets scared during them all. Halfway through The Grudge he insists on turning all the lights on, he yelps so loudly during The Shining that Pepper comes running to check on them and when Tony recommends a truly chilling Italian film (that Clint’s even a little bit scared of) Phil launches himself into Clint’s arms, which he would’ve enjoyed if it weren’t for the creepy doll onscreen. 

But tonight they’re watching Psycho but Phil’s remaining relatively calm. He breaks the silence of the film, “I know what you’re doing,” he says. 

“What am I doing?” Clint replies, trying to sound innocent. 

“You’re trying to get me all scared so I’ll jump into your lap,” Phil says, not taking his eyes off the screen, “But it’s not going to work,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Clint shakes his head.

Phil’s resolve doesn’t last long. He ends up burying his head in Clint’s shoulder and yells so loudly that Pepper storms in and turns the television off. 

“For God’s sake,” she tells them, “Why can’t you boys just watch nice films?”

* * * * * 

Things are settling down in Clint’s household. Baby Michael is sleeping longer and not crying as much, his mom has been able to quit her second job and his dad got a new job in a factory. Clint is aware that the factory is owned by Stark Enterprises and that Natasha probably told Tony about his troubles at home, but he’s just glad his dad isn’t moping around the house anymore. 

One evening he’s in his room reading when his mom slides into his bedroom, “Hi, sweetie,” she smiles, sitting down uninvited on the edge of his bed, “Things have been kind of busy lately, I just thought we’d catch up,”

“Uh-huh,” Clint says suspiciously. 

“So, do you have a boyfriend?” she asks. This is clearly a conversation were the subject has been planned in advance. Clint groans like he’s in pain, “Or a girlfriend? It’s just I know you were interested in boys,”

“Mom, please no,” Clint begs, “There’s no boyfriend,”

“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” she says raising her hands defensively, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want but there are some things you should know…”

Oh God no, Clint thinks. He’s just realised what this conversation is actually about, “No, mom, no,” he really begs. 

“Now, I know you’re only fourteen but I think it’s better to be prepared,” his mom says, as if they were talking about what he’d like for dinner, “I went and I found you some leaflets,” she hands him two leaflets which Clint can barely stand to look at, “I wasn’t sure about whether you were interested in boys or girls, so I got you both,”

“Thanks mom,” Clint says sounding slightly strangled and turning bright red. 

“And I want you to know that if you have any questions, you can ask me or your dad,” she tells him with a smile, “Can’t he Dan?” she bellows out to his dad who is lurking outside in the hallway, looking just as embarrassed as Clint. 

Clint’s dad comes into the room, avoiding eye contact, “Don’t get anyone pregnant and don’t do it in my house,”

“I’m not doing anything,” Clint reassures them, really trying to end this conversation right now. 

“Oh thank God,” Clint’s dad exhales. 

“We weren’t sure,” his mom tells him, “You’re out of the house an awful lot,” 

“So you assumed I was somewhere having sex?” Clint replies incredulously.

“It was either than or drugs,” Clint’s dad says, “It better not be drugs!” he snaps.

“I’m not on drugs,” Clint groans. 

“We believe you honey,” his mom says, patting him on the head and kissing his cheek, “Look our baby, Dan. All grown up,” she says before ushering his dad out of the room.

Clint sits there for a long time feeling shell shocked. 

* * * * * 

Phil’s been at school for a good few weeks now and he’s getting used to it gradually. He generally stays out of Flash Thompson’s way, exchanges polite talk with Gwen Stacy but spends most of his time with Peter. They go to chess club together, computer club and Peter’s even persuaded him to work on the school newspaper with him. They’re both kind of nerds but they don’t care. 

One day in history, their teachers assigns them joint research projects. Phil’s kind of gutted he’s not paired with Peter but he likes being paired with Gwen. She’s battling for smartest person in the class with Peter and she gets their project up and started fairly quickly. 

They’re doing a presentation on propaganda during the Second World War, which is a topic that Phil is pretty familiar with due to the fact that before he died his father wrote several books on the subject as well as Captain America living in the apartment above him. Gwen suggests that they meet up outside of school, inviting him over to her house.

“Unless, you want to do this at your place,” she shrugs.

“No, it’s probably better if we go to yours,” Phil says, thinking back to Tuesday night when a huge explosion took a chunk out of one of the R&D labs. Living with a bunch of geniuses has its drawbacks. 

Peter is eaten up with jealousy over the fact that Phil gets to go round to Gwen’s house. Phil thinks that Peter’s crush on Gwen may be something that’s been developing for a while. Gwen seems to like Peter but is sometimes genuinely perplexed by him. 

Happy drops Phil off outside Gwen’s apartment building and he trudges up the stairs with his bag full of books so they can do there research. Captain Stacy of the New York Police Department opens the door and regards him with suspicion. 

“Hello, I’m Phillip,” he says nervously, “I’m here to do a project with Gwen,”

Captain Stacy looks him over once more before calling out, “Gwen, there’s some kid at the door for you,” 

He shuts the door slightly, not letting him in yet. Phil hears a scuffle and then Gwen’s voice, “Dad, don’t leave him standing outside,” she says and opens the door, “Hi, Phil. Sorry about that,” she apologises.

They start work in Gwen’s bedroom, spreading out their books on her floor. Captain Stacy keeps not so surreptitiously passing the open door to check on them. Phil wonders when it was when adults stopped trusting him. 

“Dad, we’re doing homework,” Gwen says through gritted teeth as he checks in again.

“I’ve got nothing against you Phil,” Captain Stacy says to him, “But I’ve got three boys, I know what they’re like,”

“Dad!” Gwen says sounding outraged.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Phil assures him but this doesn’t seem to calm Captain Stacy’s temper. 

“Why? Is there something wrong with my daughter?” he snaps, “She’s beautiful, intelligent girl,”

Phil doesn’t understand what’s going on, “I know,” he says quickly, “But I have a boyfriend,”

This perks Captain Stacy up quite a bit, “Oh, good,” he says with a smile, “Alright then, you’re good. Carry on working,”

Gwen looks mortified, “I am so sorry,” she shakes her head, “but I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” she says playfully poking him with her pencil. 

“His name’s Clint,” Phil tells her, “He goes to a different school,”

They work pretty quickly until Mrs Stacy calls them for dinner. Phil sits at the dinner table with the Stacy family and it feels like a familiar kind of domesticity that he hasn’t had since his parents died. Sure, he has Happy and Pepper but they trust him to be fairly independent. 

During the meal he finds Captain Stacy staring at him again but this time it’s like he’s trying to place his face. It’s then that it occurs to Phil that Captain Stacy is in the police and he would have been more than aware of the fairly high profile murders of the Carters last year. Phil avoids his gaze determinedly. 

After dinner, Happy comes to pick him up and Captain Stacy sees him to the door.

“Thank you for dinner,” Phil says politely. 

“Is that your dad?” Captain Stacy says indicating the Stark Enterprises car that’s pulled up outside the building, “He work for Stark?” 

“He’s my foster dad and yeah he does,” Phil tells him. 

Captain Stacy narrows his eyes, “What happened to your folks?” he asks. 

“They died last year,” Phil replies, not providing any more information. 

If Captain Stacy places his face, he doesn’t say anything, “Sorry about that,” he says, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Stark’s a jackass,” he says eventually. 

“Tell me about it,” Phil replies with a laugh.

* * * * * 

Clint and Kate sit next to each other most lunch times. They don’t really talk, except to insult each other. Clint doesn’t know that much about her; only that her dad’s some kind of big shot publisher and that she used to go to a private school but some reason decided to go to public school. 

They’re sitting in the canteen one lunch time when she turns to Clint and says bluntly, “You smell like baby sick,” 

Clint groans and reluctantly sniffs himself, “Sorry, my nephew got a little barfy this morning,” he apologises. 

“Gross,” she says simply. Kate looks at her shoes. Sometimes, Clint thinks, she gets a look on her face that reminds him of Phil. They’ll be times when he and Phil are hanging out together that Phil will just stare off into the distant and look so sad. It wasn’t that long ago that Phil’s parents were killed and when he gets like that there’s not much Clint can do to help him. Kate gets that look sometimes and it worries Clint.

“Are you alright?” he asks quietly. 

“I’m fine,” she replies vaguely, “I’m just tired,” she says in a way that makes her sound older than she is. 

“Hey, do you want to do something with me after school?” Clint asks hopefully.

“Ew…I don’t want to go out with you,” she replies. 

“Oh, well thanks,” Clint snorts, “But I just wanted to hangout, I have a boyfriend,” Clint can’t help feeling a little bit smug at saying he has a boyfriend.

Kate looks surprised that Clint would want to spend any more time with her than he has to, most of the things she says to him are kind of mean, “What do you want to do?” she asks him.

They end up in the Bishop’s huge back garden; Kate leads him through her house on the way which is empty. Kate explains that her dad’s away, but she doesn’t mention her mom. 

Clint’s brought his bow with him, he figure that Kate would get a kick out of having a go with it. It turns out that her fancy private school had an archery club that she pretty much the captain of. They set up a target and start at a hundred paces.

Both of them hit it with ease.

“Let’s make it a little more difficult,” Kate proposes. 

Kate’s good but Clint’s better. He’s got a lifetime of experience from Clint Barton to draw upon; he’s finding it easier and easier to do that. To use Barton’s experience to help himself. It’s just too bad Barton was no good at writing his English papers because Clint is totally failing. 

Clint’s shots get more and more impressive until Kate just stands back and watches. 

“Wow,” she says after Clint hits the bullseye from all the way across the garden, “You’re really good at this,”

“Thank you,” Clint says with a smile.

“It’s actually really creepy,” she continues countering the compliment she just paid, “I mean, it’s really freaky because you look just like him as well. You’re not like Hawkeye’s son, are you?”

“What are you talking about?” Clint says, trying to play it cool.

“You look just like Hawkeye,” Kate presses, “You have, like, the same grumpy face,”

“Wait…grumpy face?” Clint says self-consciously, “I don’t have a grumpy face,”

“Sure you do,” Kate says, turning back towards the house, “Come on, I’m hungry,”

Clint follows lamely, wholly focussed on his grumpy face now. 

* * * * * 

The Avengers are on mission in Afghanistan when it happens. The Ten Rings have been gathering arms and soldiers, leaving the Avengers to step up and stop them. The mission goes to hell almost immediately. The circumstances aren’t important but it ends with Hank bleeding out from the chest as Steve frantically presses his hands against the wound. 

“Steve, Steve,” Bruce says quietly, “It’s too late,”

Steve knows he’s right but it’s been so long since he lost a member of his team. He doesn’t want to admit that he’s failed…again. Bruce steps forward and gently pries his fingers from Hank’s still chest. 

They’re at a temporary SHIELD base in the middle of the desert, the Avengers are all standing around. Natasha looks stony faced, Tony is furious and Agent Sitwell, looking older and more tired than Steve has ever seen him, is frantically trying to call a medevac team that’s not needed anymore. 

“Dammit,” Tony yells, angrily kicking out. 

“Tony, calm down,” Bruce goes to reassure his friend. 

“It’s my damn fault,” Tony bursts out, “I didn’t get to him in time,”

“No Tony,” Bruce tells him, “Don’t say that,”

Steve stays on his knees, in shock. Hank’s eyes are still open which Steve can’t bear to look at. He gently presses them closed with shaking hands. 

“Steve, go wash your hands,” Natasha says, kneeling quietly beside him. 

Steve doesn’t get up. Hank hadn’t been part of the Avengers for long. He’d been supporting them for a long time but had kept asking to join the team using his Pym’s Particles. He was a genius to rival Tony, Bruce or even Reed Richards. 

Steve’s just about to get up when he notices something; something in the veins on Hank’s wrists, a hint of green that gradually spreads up his body.

“Tony, what the hell is going on,” Steve demands.

Tony stops his angry kicking and kneels down next to him as Hank continues into transform into something…alien.

“That’s not Hank,” Tony whispers.

“That’s not human,” Bruce agrees.

“Oh, great,” Sitwell groans, “Aliens, somebody call Dr Richards,” he calls out. 

* * * * * 

Phil is lying on his bed in his pyjamas, talking to Clint on the phone. 

“So, do you think I have a grumpy face?” Clint asks worriedly. 

Phil stops himself from laughing because by the sound of it, it’s a sore point, “No, I don’t think you have a grumpy face. 

“You’re lying,” Clint catches him out. 

“OK, but you’re not grumpy,” Phil explains, “Just a little bit more prone to sullen,”

“I’m a very happy guy,” Clint counters. 

Phil hears the whir of the quinjet landing on the roof a few floors above, “Clint, hold on,” he says, “The Avengers are back,”

Phil gets off his bed and sneaks upstairs. They’ve been gone longer than usual and Pepper’s remained unusually tight lipped about what they’ve been doing. So yeah, he’s spying, so what. 

He lingers around the corner, listening as the Avengers make their way downstairs. They’re arguing about something, but he can’t hear what yet. Steve comes into sight first. Phil is horrified to see that his uniform is stained with red. 

“Phil?” Clint asks down the phone, “What’s going on?”

Phil shushes him, turns on the two way camera on the phone and holds it up towards the Avengers so Clint can see what’s going on. 

“When will Dr Richards get the results?” Steve asks, finally coming in earshot. 

“Not long,” Tony says, running his hands through his hair, “But he was able to tell us that they definitely are the Skrulls,” 

“Skrulls?” Steve says, “So how come Dr Richards knows about shapeshifting aliens?” 

“You know Reed,” Tony shrugs noncommittally, “He knows lots of things,”

“I know you,” Steve continues, “And I know you’re hiding something,”

“Yeah Tony,” Bruce continues, “You didn’t seem all that surprised about the appearance of an alien race on Earth,”

Tony looks uncomfortable for a moment, “There are some of us who may have already known about this,” he says eventually. 

Bruce smiles knowingly, “Of course,” he says bitterly, “You’re little gang,”

“His what?” Steve interrupts.

“It’s him, Richards, Strange, Xavier…” Bruce accused, “They call themselves the Illuminati,” 

“Is this true,” Steve says, sounding betrayed, “You knew about the Skrulls?”

“Yes, but only for a few months,” Tony explains, “But It’s not keeping secrets; we’re just trying to solve some problems behind the scenes,”

“Well, it hasn’t really worked because we’re in the middle of an alien invasion,” Bruce yells, “Anyone of us could be a Skrull,”

“Bruce, calm down,” Natasha says quietly. 

“He’s right,” Tony interrupts, “Anyone could be a Skrull and we have no way of finding out. It could even be you Bruce,”

“Oh, you’re accusing me?” Bruce scoffs, “Who’s been the one keeping secrets and manipulating us!” 

Phil’s panicking because Tony and Bruce are the best of friends, they never argue. 

“Shut up,” Steve yells, which makes Phil flinch even more, “The pair of you,”

“Steve, we’re not alone,” Natasha says, the only one who isn’t raising his voice. Of course, she’s be the one to notice Phil was in the room, “Phil, come out,”

Phil considers running back to his room but instead he edges round the quarter, “Sorry,” he says apologetically. 

“You should be in bed,” Steve says sternly. 

“What happened?” Phil asks, “Where’s Hank,”

“We don’t know,” Tony replies looking awkward, “We don’t know anything,”

“But there’s an alien invasion?” Phil asks, “And they could be anyone?” he checks. 

“That’s right,” Bruce says, calming down somewhat. 

“Have any of you ever seen that episode of the Twilight Zone? The one where people turn against their neighbours when the aliens turn the power off?” Phil demands insistently (OK, so he’s kind of a science fiction nerd), “You’re doing exactly what they’d want you to do. Turning against each other,”

They all remain quiet for a long time. 

“You’re right, Phil,” Bruce said quietly, “We’re sorry for shouting,” he says apologetically. 

“Come on,” Natasha says, “You should go back to bed,” she speaks into the phone in Phil’s hand, “You too Clint,”

“Goodnight,” Clint says sheepishly, signing off. 

Before going back downstairs, Phil turns to Steve, looking hopefully at him, “We’re going to be alright, aren’t we?” he asks his hero. 

Steve looks uncertain but eventually manages to respond, “Yes Phil, we’re going to be fine,” 

He sounds hopeful but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes. 

* * * * *

Hank doesn’t know where he is but wherever it is, it’s not Earth. He’s not sure how long he’s been here either but there’s other people he recognises. They shouldn’t be here, this is very wrong. 

But he’s an Avenger now, he has to escape and make his way back home. 

If only he could work out what the hell is going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really does demonstrate my love and fear of horror films as well the Twilight Zone. The episode that Phil talks about is called The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. And if you haven't watched it, you should.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint gets into trouble at school for standing up for his principles. He also has his first fight with Phil over absolutely nothing important. He decides to top this all off by getting into crime fighting.

The next day, Clint practically runs to the tower to find out exactly what the hell is going on. He bursts into Phil’s room and announces, “Aliens? Freaking aliens?” 

Phil is still in bed and very grumpy about having been woken up so early, “Really? Eight o’clock, on a Saturday?” he mumbles rubbing sleep out of his eyes. 

“Phil, there are shapeshifting aliens out there trying to take over the world,” Clint says gesticulating wildly, “You have to get out of bed,”

Phil complies grudgingly but doesn’t launch into action like Clint hoped he would have. Instead he pads into the kitchen in his pyjamas and pours himself a bowl of cereal. He munches his way slowly through his breakfast while Clint practically dances around him babbling about aliens. 

“It’s not exciting,” Phil says seriously, “They don’t know where Dr Pym is and they don’t know how long he was…one of them,”

Clint stops and sits down at the kitchen table opposite Phil, “You mean he could’ve been an alien since before we met him?” 

“Exactly,” Phil says going for some juice from the fridge, “Anybody could be a Skrull and we don’t have any way of finding out about it,”

“But they have Reed Richards working on it,” Clint reasons, “He’s like the smartest man in the world,”

“Don’t let Tony hear you say that,” Pepper pads out of her bedroom with a bed head and dressed in a dressing gown, “Why are you boys up so early?” 

“I was just thinking that,” Phil says, handing Clint a glass of apple juice. 

“I take it you were told about the situation,” she says looking at them disapprovingly. 

“We weren’t told so much as overheard,” Phil shrugs apologetically. 

“It doesn’t matter how,” Pepper continues, “But of you both need to know that what goes on in the Avengers is dangerous, and I need you both to please keep out of it,” she pleads. 

Clint slumps in disappointment. He knows he and Phil aren’t Avengers, but they’re practically honorary Avengers. He thought that they’d proved themselves enough so far to be at least kept in the loop.   
“I mean it Clint,” Pepper says noticing the look on his face, “I know you think you’ve seen some things but you’re both still boys. I don’t want you getting hurt,” her face softens and she hugs Phil around the shoulders, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, “Now, I’m going back to bed, try and keep it down,” 

Clint twitches in his seat and Phil finishes off his breakfast. He doesn’t know if he can just carry on as normal when they’re on the brink of an alien invasion. 

* * * * * 

Clint’s playing with baby Michael on the floor while his dad watches the news. It’s always the same stuff; the economy, the crumbling environment, anti-mutant protests, mutant rights protests. It’s a never ending deluge of depression that Clint can’t be at all effected by while the baby blows wets raspberries all the way through. 

Last weekend they had Michael baptised and Annie named Clint his godfather. He’s now responsible for tiny, little squirming nephew and since he learned about the Skrull invasion he’s been consistently worried about what might happen to his family. 

The last time aliens invaded New York it got pretty smashed. His dad still tells stories about the day when a giant space whale smashed into Grand Central station where he at the time and his sisters can still remember cowering in the subway with their mom as the Chitauri destroyed the streets above. Clint wasn’t born at the time but Hawkeye was up there, taking shots from a rooftop. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Clint tells Michael, rubbing his chubby tummy, “Because your Uncle Clint’s going to look out for you. You know I’m almost a superhero myself,” he tells the baby. 

Baby Michael shoots him a look that seems to say, I’m a baby and even I don’t believe that. 

* * * * *

Tommy Shepherd is kind of a dick but he’s not worse than anyone else at school. Sure, he’s kind of arrogant, talks a mile a minute and always beats Clint in gym but he’s pretty much a good guy. They share nods in the corridor, which is extremely friendly for Clint. 

Which is why when he sees some guys laying into Tommy, he jumps in without a second thought. It actually happens right outside the school but none of the teachers seem to be getting involved. Tommy’s on the ground being kicked by a group of seniors but he’s not taking it without a fight. Clint moves through the crowd of observers and lets Natasha’s training take over. He knocks down the first two with ease, but by then the shock of a freshman, who’s about a foot shorter than them, fighting back wears off. Clint takes a punch to the head and goes down; he expects to feel more pain but opens his eyes to see Kate utilising the ju-jitsu she talks about occasionally. She’s really kicking ass.

The crowd is becoming more vocal now, but they don’t seem to be cheering Clint and Kate on. They’re chanting, viciously, “Kill the mutie! Kill the mutie!” 

Clint thinks he might be sick. He meets Tommy’s eye and is greeted with a look of pure fury that makes him shudder. He’s just glad it’s not directed at him. Tommy clambers to his feet and disappears into a blur. Clint can only imagine that this was what happened because everything happened so fast. Tommy knocks the two guys who are surrounding Kate away, and getting hit by something at that speed means that the two guys go flying into the crowd. He moves on to the senior advancing on Clint, breaking his arm in the blink of an eye.

By now the cops have shown up, a police car mounts the kerb and two officers pile out but neither are sure just where to point their guns. When Tommy finally slows down enough, they fire and he’s hit by a mutant strength tranquiliser that the city of New York recently allowed their police department to fire at mutants indiscriminately. Tommy falls to the floor with a spectacular array of curse words. 

Clint doesn’t get to see him carted away in a police van because he’s too busy being dragged to the principal’s office along with Kate.

He’s kind of confused because he thought he was the good guy in this situation. The two week suspension seems to say otherwise. 

* * * * * 

Clint’s dad is the one to come and pick him up from school. He doesn’t say a word during the car journey home. He leaves that to Clint’s mom who has more than enough to say on the subject. 

“Fighting Clint?” she shrieks, “Fighting? You were raised better than that young man,”

Clint remains silent because this is what he gets for standing up for himself. 

“What was this all about? Hm?” she continues, not looking for an answer but just continuing to yell, “What problem could you have possibly solved by fighting?” 

“Mary,” Clint’s father perked up, “This wasn’t Clint’s fault,” he says simply. Clint’s dad is a man of few words but the words he says are more often than not good ones, “He was standing up for a kid with powers,”

Clint’s mom softens at this, “You should have let the teachers handle it,” she tells him.

“Nobody was doing anything,” Clint says bitterly, “They’re all bigots,”

“He’s not going back to that school,” Clint’s dad continues, “After that conversation I had with that moron of a principal,” 

Clint relaxes a little, because his dad stood up for him and because his dad stands by his principles. A lot of people like to say their pro-mutant, that they’re not prejudiced, but not a lot of people follow through like Clint’s dad has just done. 

“Well, where’s he going to go?” Clint’s says, sounding stressed, “It’s not as if we can afford to go private,”

The conversation continues from there as Clint’s parents begin to argue over him until Clint’s dad tells him to go upstairs. 

“I’m not rewarding you for fighting,” he tells him, “But I’m proud of you,”

Clint nods awkwardly and runs up to his room to go and call Phil.

* * * * * 

Phil is completely thrashing Joshua at chess when his phone rings. The poor kid looks desperate when Phil takes the call and continues playing. 

“Hey Clint,” he says casually.

“Hey, where are you?” Clint asks abruptly. 

“I’m at chess club,” Phil says taking Joshua’s castle.

“Uh…you’re such a nerd,” Clint scoffs. 

“I am aware of this,” Phil concedes. 

“I got suspended today,” Clint continues.

“You got what?” Phil says incredulously. Clint’s never been the best student but he’s done anything that would get him into that much trouble, “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Clint says defensively, “I was just standing up to some mutant hating bigots,”

“There was a fight, huh?” Phil says, taking Joshua’s bishop and giving him an apologetic look. 

“Yeah and I got my butt kicked,” Clint snorts, “I’m pretty sure the loser of the fight isn’t supposed to get punished,”

“I didn’t know you knew any mutants,” Phil says, the current atmosphere is hostile enough for anyone who discovers they have powers to want to keep it to themselves.

“It was that Tommy kid I told you about,” Clint explains, “He’s got like crazy super speed, he knocked a couple of guys on their asses and broke the arm of the captain of the basketball team before he got tranqued by the cops,” 

Phil shifts uncomfortably in his seat, “That’s so wrong, you should call a mutant rights group about them,” 

“Yeah, Kate’s on it,” Clint says casually, “She knows more people like that,”

“Who’s Kate,” Phil asks, trying to sound casual, “You never mentioned her before,”

“Oh, she’s just Kate,” Clint replies, “I’m sure I told you about her, I’ve been to her house before,”

“OK,” Phil sighs, Joshua triumphantly takes one of his pawns but leaves his queen open to attack, “So, you’re suspended,”

“Yep,” Clint says proudly, “Lots of lie ins, TV watching, it’s going to be awesome,” Phil makes a disapproving noise that Clint picks up on, “Yes, I know how much you just love school, but I don’t,” he says with a mean edge. 

Phil admits that he’s enjoying Midtown High; he’s made friends, he likes his classes and even Flash has started leaving him alone, they had a self-defence class and Phil might have shown everyone just how badass he can actually be, “Yeah, I’m enjoying myself,” Phil says defensively, “I think you’re just jealous because I know other people now, I think you used to like that you were the only friend I had,”

Clint makes an outraged noise, “Oh yeah, that’s it,” he snaps, “I’m jealous of all your nerd friends, enjoying chess club,” 

“You know what Clint,” Phil sighs, “I’m sick of you making fun of me,”

“I’m not making fun,” Clint insists. 

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Phil sulks. 

“OK, fine,” Clint says curtly, “I’m going now, I’ll talk to you later,”

Clint hangs up without another word. Phil sits there for another minutes, frowning, before taking Joshua’s king and getting to his feet, “Good game, Josh,”

* * * * * 

Phil drags his feet on his way out of school, feeling miserable. He doesn’t even notice when Peter jogs to catch up with him. 

“What’s up?” Peter asks, obviously noticing Phil’s face. 

“Nothing, had a fight with Clint,” Phil sighs deeply.

“That’s too bad,” Peter says awkwardly, he’s definitely not the person to give relationship advice, “You should come round to my house for dinner,” 

“Why’s that?” Phil asks, surprised by Peter’s change in subject.

“Because my Aunt May’s a good cook and neither of them believe you actually exist,” Peter explains. 

This makes Phil laugh. 

“Yeah, yeah. Keep laughing,” Peter grumbles, “I’m so socially awkward not even my own family believe I’m capable of making friends,”

Peter keeps laughing, “That’s what my mom used to think before I met Clint,” he says but this makes him stop laughing abruptly. It happens sometimes when he reminds himself of his parents. 

“Sorry, I bummed you out,” Peter says. 

“No, I bummed myself out,” Phil shrugs, part of the reason that he’s become such close friends with Peter so quickly is that he understands what Phil’s going through, even more so than Clint, “I’d love to come to dinner though,”

He could use a distraction from the fight he and Clint just had.

* * * * * 

Mrs Parker loves Phil, she tells him he’s the politest young man she’s ever met and shoots Peter an accusing look. Mr Parker tells him to call him Ben and shakes his hand. They both seem very pleased that Peter’s brought a friend over for dinner. 

Aunt May makes meatloaf for dinner which is delicious, Phil tells her so and she makes an appreciative noise. Peter rolls his eyes. Uncle Ben quizzes them about school through dinner and seems pleased with what he hears. All in all, Phil has a good time and for a while he’s able to forget about Skrulls, and the Avengers and Clint. 

* * * * * 

Clint isn’t entirely sure who’s supposed to call who in this situation. On the one hand, Clint was kind of mean to Phil but on the other hand Phil was definitely a jackass to Clint. Clint decides to sulk in his room instead of solving the problem head on. 

“God, stop pulling that face,” Annie says hovering at his door with Michael in her arms. 

“What face?” he demands.

“That face. That grumpy face,” she repeats. 

“I don’t have a grumpy face,” Clint scowls. 

“Yes, you do,” Annie corrects him, “Now stop teenage angsting about whatever you angsting about come with us to the mall,” she tells him. 

So Clint drags his feet and goes with his sister to the mall. He’s left pushing the pushchair and keeping Michael occupied while Annie goes into an endless amount of stores. 

“Clint?” he hears Phil’s familiar voice from behind him. 

“Oh, hey Phil,” Clint says, trying not to launch into his arms and beg for forgiveness.

“Is this Michael?” Phil says, kneeling down to look in the pushchair, he hasn’t met him before due to the fact that Clint’s family think Phil is dead. Michael seems to be quite taken with Phil and grabs his finger firmly. 

“Say hello to Phil, Mikey,” Clint tells his nephew, “He’s not so chatty, he mostly likes dribbling and making smells,”

Phil smiles, “Listen Clint…” he sounds like he’s about to apologise but he’s interrupted by the arrival of a beanstalk of a kid wearing glasses.

“Hey, we’ve got five minutes until the movie starts,” he says.

“Clint this is Peter,” Phil says getting to his feet and introducing the infamous Peter, “Peter is this is Clint,”

Peter’s eyes widen in recognition, Phil’s probably told him about their fight, “Oh hey, nice to meet you,” he says, holding his hand out for Clint to shake, which he grudgingly does, “I should leave you to talk,” he says. 

“No, no,” Clint insists, “You go see your movie, I’ve got to go meet Annie,”

He walks away without another word, ignoring Phil’s stricken look. He really didn’t expect Peter to look like that; all tall and good looking. Sure, he was kind of nerd but then again being nerdy was cool now. Nerds were people like Tony and Bruce; nerds were superheroes. 

Clint suddenly finds himself lacking. He’s not that smart, he’s kind of short and he does have a grumpy face. Phil on the other hand is in the middle of a grow spurt that has him rocketing upwards, all in all puberty seems to be treating him very well. 

They haven’t been together all that long but Clint doesn’t feel as certain around Phil as he used to. 

Michael makes a yelp for attention.

“Stay a baby, Mikey,” Clint tells him, “Growing up sucks,”

* * * * * 

Clint’s walking along minding his own business, thinking about going to buy a soda when suddenly someone tackles him and knocks him down.

“Hey, grumpy face!” Tommy Shepherd exclaims, pinning him to the ground. 

“You’ve been talking to Kate, haven’t you?” Clint groans. 

“Yes, he has,” Kate appears at a slower pace as Tommy helps Clint to his feet. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in juvie?” Clint asks Tommy, straightening his clothes. 

“I was but I got a lawyer provided by the Xavier Institute to help me out,” Tommy explains, looking very pleased with himself, “Hey, and listen, thanks for sticking up for me and whatever. What you did was pretty cool,” he gabbled very fast. 

“You probably could have handled it yourself,” Clint noted, “But I got a two week suspension from it so I’m happy,” he shrugged. 

“I got expelled so I’m ever happier,” Tommy smiled wickedly, “You got some pretty cool moves, you feel like showing them to me, I’m a fast learner,” 

That’s how Clint winds up in the park teaching Tommy and Kate all of the moves that Natasha taught him. After a couple of hours they’re looking pretty good. Clint’s pretty certain that they’ll all be able to handle themselves. 

They decide to go and get sodas together. Tommy tries to restrain himself running all the way there, but keeps telling the others to hurry up. He doesn’t have a lot of patience. 

“Were your parents mad at you?” he asked Kate as Tommy strode on ahead. 

“My dad didn’t care that much,” Kate shrugged, “He wants me to go back to private school though, my mom’s dead,” she finally admits. 

“I’m sorry,” Clint replies. He thought he recognised that sad look that Kate seemed to get sometimes.

“It’s OK,” Kate shrugs, it’s clearly not though, “It happened a while ago,”

Tommy appears next to them, “Guys, guys, guys,” he says very quickly, “There’s totally a hold up going on at that store,” 

“Are the cops there?” Clint inquires. 

“No, but there’s totally a guy with a gun,” Tommy exclaims excitedly. 

Clint shoots Kate a sideway look, “Feeling confident?” he asks her.

“Dangerously so,” she agrees.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all kicks off, in the worst way possible. The invasion begins and Phil and Clint seem to be determined to waltz straight into danger.

Phil is quietly packing his schoolbag before leaving for school. He has the television on in the background, switched onto the morning news. He’s just double checking his math homework when the final news item comes on.

“And now for some interesting news about a hold up that was foiled by some young crime fighters,” the news reader reads out jovially, “A local shop owner was saved from an attempted robbery by the arrival of three youths, who as you can see handle the situation in a unique way…”

The screen switches to CCTV footage of a store that Phil knows is very close to Clint’s house; he’s been in there before. The footage shows the owner holding his hands up in the face of a gun wielding masked man; it then shows a blur that passes through the store which seems to knock the gun out of the man’s hand. Phil watches with a groan of realisation as two more people enter the frame. The first is clearly a girl but her face is covered with a hood, the second is quite obviously Clint. Phil would recognise him anywhere; he is also wearing his hood up but Phil can pretty much identify every item of clothing he’s wearing. 

The girl darts for the gun while Clint grabs a jar of peanut butter off of one of the shelves and hurls it at the guy’s head. It hits his target and the guy goes down hard. The screen cuts back to the news reader who smiles indulgently, “It seems like there are some good kids out there after all, although no one has come forward to reveal themselves,” his voice goes a little sterner, “However, many people believe that this surge in amateur crime fighting is a sign of something more suspicious. Captain Stacy, of the New York Police Department, had this to say…”

Phil doesn’t hang around to hear what Gwen’s father has to say on the situation. 

* * * * * 

Phil goes upstairs to see if he can talk to any one of the Avengers. However, when he finds Tony, Bruce and Natasha in the lab, he sees that they’re not alone. Mister Fantastic is there. Phil stands rooted to the spot; surprisingly star struck. 

“It’s OK, Phil,” Tony beckons him in, “This is Phil Coulson,” he says, introducing him, “And I suppose you know Dr Reed Richards,”

Phil nods and really tries not to stare. 

Dr Richards nods courteously before continuing with what he was saying, “As I was saying, this is good news,” he says, sounding distracting and looking a little tired, “We’re now able to detect Skrulls in their human form,” he points to a small, hand held device lying on the desk.

“You don’t look so happy,” Bruce interrupts.

“I’m not,” Richards says seriously, “We may be able to detect them but we still don’t know where they are. There’s an invasion force out there, somewhere in our solar system,” 

“Well, we better get looking,” Tony says, “The Tower has a pretty damn good telescope,”

Dr Richards pulls a face, “The Baxter Building has a better one,” he counters. 

Tony narrows his eyes, “Oh, really,”

Natasha rolls her eyes, “Boys, everybody’s toys are very nice,”

“Technically Reed’s is better,” Bruce murmurs.

Tony looks slightly outraged and betrayed, “Fine, fine” he snaps, “We’ll go use Reed’s, but we’re taking my quinjet,” 

“Whatever you like,” Reed says with a raised eyebrow. He’s clearly not used to Tony’s constant desire for everyone to know that his toys are best. 

“I guess we have to go now,” Bruce says, standing up and pulling on his jacket, “Did you want something, Phil?” he asks. 

“I kind of needed to tell you something,” Phil says, “But it’s not important, you should go,” 

The Skrull invasion is more important than Clint’s attempt at superheroism. 

“Steve’s around somewhere,” Tony tells him, “You can talk to him,”

Phil nods and sees them upstairs to the quinjet, watching as they take off and head towards the Baxter Building. He takes a moment to carefully look at the Skrull detection device, it seems harmless enough. Phil wonders how it works, and a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Clint tells him to turn it on. 

A green light on the top of the device flickers on and Phil jumps slightly. 

“Is that it?” Phil jumps again but relaxes when it’s just Steve. 

“Uh, yeah,” Phil says, stepping back, “I think I just turned it on,”

“Is that so?” Steve says, raising an eyebrow, “You shouldn’t have touched it,”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Phil apologises, sometimes curiosity gets the better of him. Steve smiles in a way that makes Phil feels uncomfortable, he doesn’t know why but the whole atmosphere in the lab feels off, “I have to get to school,” Phil tries to excuse himself but Steve has positioned himself in front of the door.

Before Phil can ask him to move out of the way, the device begins to beep obnoxiously. His heart sinks because that means someone in the room is a Skrull and it sure as hell isn’t Phil. He looks Steve dead in the eye. Whatever happens next isn’t going to be good.

“How long have you been Steve?” he asks quietly. 

“A long time,” Steve says smugly, “Months and boy was it easy. I just slipped in here and none of you noticed,” 

Phil remains stock still because he’s in trouble now, “I’ll bet that was interesting for you,” 

“Oh yes, an interesting anthropological study,” Skrull Steve comments, “But now the experiment is over, the invasion is imminent and I need that,” he says, violently pointing towards the device. 

Phil launches towards it, practically jumping onto the table to cover it with his body. Skrull Steve is right behind him; he grabs Phil around the middle and pulls him off the table. He lifts Phil and throws him across the room, Phil crashes into an arrangement of glass beakers and lands on the floor in a pile of glass. 

He lies there, trying to ignore the pain. He’s pretty sure he’s done some damage to his back and tiny glass shards pepper his right arm; but he still has the device. 

“Can imagine how Captain America would feel if he knew the last thing his number one fan every saw was his hero’s face as he choked the life out of him,” Skrull Steve says menacingly stalking towards Phil. 

Phil scrambles for cover but the Skrull is advancing fast and with his strength Phil has no chance. 

Three gunshots crack through the air and Skrull Steve stumbles forward. Phil sticks his head up to see Happy holding his seldom used gun level at Skrull Steve’s back. He looks a little shocked at what he just did. 

“Phil, run towards me,” he snaps out of his temporary shock. Phil does as his told and darts around the still standing Skrull.

“That…hurt,” the Skrull spits towards Happy.

“Sorry about that,” Happy says, he probably still thinks that he’s just shot Captain America. 

“You will be,” Skrull Steve says, stalking towards them, his back is dripping with dark green blood. 

“He’s an alien,” Phil cries, from behind Happy, “Shoot him again,” 

Happy does so and Phil has to close his eyes as he hits the Skrull three times in the chest. He knows it’s not actually Steve, but damn it, it looks like him. 

Happy lowers his gun and replaces it back in his shoulder holster, “You OK Phil?” he asks him with his eyes wide open. Phil nods mutely, “I was waiting for you in the car, you’re late for school,” Happy continues, still sounding shocked.

Phil has a feeling he’s not going to school today. 

* * * * * 

At 9.34am, the world’s intelligence and superhero agencies go ballistic. It starts with Reed Richards, who along with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner who are backseat science-ing, spots an anomaly encroaching in on Earth. The panic soon spreads to SWORD, to its sister agency SHIELD and very soon everyone from NASA to CNN knows about the imminent invasion. 

At 10.05am, the first Skrull ships enter the atmosphere and head for New York (it always seems to be New York). They target specific buildings, particular threats such as the Avengers Tower, the Baxter Building, the UN Headquarters. 

Phil is in the living area with Happy who is attempting to pull out several glass shards from his arm, when the wall explodes in on them. They’re both knocked to the floor; Happy manages to cover Phil as wreckage falls around them. Phil’s ear ring for a long time but he’s stirred into moving when the sprinklers decide to activate; the building’s on fire, the evacuation alarm is blaring and the hole in the side of the building is big enough for Phil to get a pretty panoramic view of the New York skyline. 

Happy groans and tries to get up but there’s chuck of metal the size of Phil’s hand sitting out of his leg, “Phil, get out of here,” Happy tells him trying to push him away, “Head for the stairs,”

Phil doesn’t listen; he just removes his belt and ties in tightly around Happy’s leg, “No way,” he says firmly. 

“Mister Stark’s emergency elevator is still in order,” JARVIS chimes in, although his voice sounds distorted. A wall panel slides back to reveal an elevator Phil didn’t even know was there. He braces himself and drags Happy towards it, apologising every time Happy yells in pain. 

Clint’s in chemistry when all hell breaks loose. Everyone begins screaming and getting out there cell phones to either call their parents or film the distant carnage. Clint’s heart sinks when he sees the distant explosions raining down on Avengers Tower. Because even though he knows Phil should be at school, he can’t help feeling that he’s still in there. So, he gets to his feet and leaves the classroom ignoring his teacher’s cries, “Dammit Harrison, get back here!”

It doesn’t take him long to get to the tower, mostly because everybody’s heading in the opposite direction. Everybody wants to get out of New York because fifteen years isn’t enough time to erase the memory of the Chitauri. When he gets to the tower; people are being evacuated, ambulances are everywhere and Pepper’s in the middle of it all. She notices him pushing his way through the crowd.

“Oh Clint,” she sighs, “Why are you running towards the danger?” she sounds pained. 

“He’s in there though,” Clint ignores her. 

“Phil and Happy haven’t made their way out yet,” Pepper says shakily. Clint thinks she’s probably the strongest person he knows because she’s making sure everybody is getting out even though she knows the two people she loves the most are missing. 

“Where are the Avengers?” Clint demands.

“The whole of New York is under attack,” Pepper says, “They were at the Baxter Building and don’t you dare even think about going in there,” she actually grabs him by the scruff of the neck because that’s exactly what he was thinking of, “You can’t do anything that the fire department can’t do safer,”

Clint scowls but Pepper is unaffected. 

The elevator door slides open and for the first time in a few minutes Phil can breathe fresh air. Happy’s still conscious but he has to lean on Phil heavily as they make their way through the empty lobby and towards the crowded plaza outside where the entire building is milling. They’re greeted almost immediately by EMTs who help Happy towards one of the waiting ambulances. 

“Phil!” Pepper runs towards them, her heels long discarded. She hugs him and refuses to let go even as she checks on Happy’s condition. They both insist their fine, “Of course, you’re not fine! You’ve got shrapnel in your leg!” she exclaims hysterically. 

Phil’s knocked out of Pepper’s arms by Clint who nearly tackles him to the ground.

“Why aren’t you at school?” they both demand simultaneously. 

“Steve’s been replaced by a Skrull,” Phil explains, “He attacked me and tried to get this,” he removes the device from underneath his t-shirt, where he’d been hiding it. 

“What is it?” Clint asks, impressively keeping up with Phil’s revelation. 

“It’s a device that Dr Richards built to detect Skrulls,” Phil says, examining the seemingly harmless box, “Although, I don’t know why they’d be after in anymore. It’s not exactly a secret invasion anymore,”

“There must be more sleeper agents that they’re trying to keep hidden,” Clint sighs, his brow furrowed, he helps himself to the device fiddling with it, “Hey, look what I did,” he says proudly, “I made a map,” 

He holds up the device in front of Phil’s face and sure enough there are a number of red dots that are moving across the screen which has become a map of the immediate area. 

“These moving ones must be the ships,” Phil says noticing the larger dots that seem to be moving around the city, “But these two little ones aren’t moving,”

“See,” Clint says insistently, “Sleeper agents, we should check them out,”

Phil bits his lip nervously, “We really shouldn’t,” he says, it was just this morning that Phil was going to tell the Avengers about Clint taking things into his own hands.

“C’mon Phil,” Clint says impatiently, “It’s not like we can help take down these,” he points upwards as another ship passes over, “The least we can do is check out what’s going on here, and keep this safe,” he says pointing to the device. 

Phil must be feeling especially reckless today because he agrees. He begins to follow Clint out of the plaza when Pepper calls after him, “Phil, Clint!” she cries from the back of Happy’s ambulance, “Stay here, please,” she says desperately. 

Phil gives her a torn look, “We’ll be OK,” he tells her honestly, “I’ll see you soon,”

He can’t bear to look back as he follows Clint through the crowd. 

* * * * *

As Phil and Clint jog through the streets, they look up to see Iron Man rocketing through the skies after a Skrull ship. At the same time Clint receives a call. 

“What are you two idiots doing?” Tony demands, “I just got a call from Pepper,”

“Shouldn’t you be concentrating on something,” Clint snaps back. 

“I can do two things at the same time,” Tony says as Iron Man leads the alien ship on a chase through skyscrapers. 

“We have Dr Richards’ device,” Clint explains, “And we’re going to go after some sleeper Skrulls in Queens,”

“Why would there be sleeper Skrulls in Queens, that make no sense,” Tony tells him. 

Phil wrestles the phone out of Clint’s grasp, “Tony, Steve was a Skrull,” he reveals as they continue through the emptying streets, “Happy shot him though, lots of times,”

“Dammit,” Tony barks over the comm, “Alright, listen I’ve got to go and I’m only going to say this once. Take cover, stay off the streets, if you two get killed you’ll break Pepper’s heart,” 

* * * * * 

Phil and Clint ignore him, naturally. They continue towards the location on the map. 

“I saw you on the news this morning,” Phil says eventually. 

“Oh, so we’re going to talk about this now,” Clint rolls his eyes, “Now? Of all times? You’re always doing dangerous things,”

“Yes, but I don’t actively search out dangerous things to do,” Phil complains, “And I don’t bring school friends into it,”

“If you must know, I didn’t bring anyone into it,” Clint replies curtly, “Kate and Tommy are perfectly capable of making their own decisions,” 

“Oh, I’m sure,” Phil grumbles.

Their argument is interrupted by a roar up ahead as a black jet roars overhead. It lowers towards the ground and lands in the street. A group of uniformed people disembark and dive into action. 

“Stark says he’s sending the Skrull this way,” the leader, a guy in weird glasses, orders, “We need to stop them going any further than here. Dammit, civilians,” he says noticing them, “Storm, get those kids out of here,”

A black woman with bright white hair approaches them, “Children, you need to get out of the streets, right now,” she tells them intensely. 

“Oh, we’re not civilians,” Clint tells them breezily. 

“Sorry, we’ve got somewhere to be,” Phil tells her. 

They walk away as fast as they can. 

“I think they were the X-Men,” Clint shoots him a sideways look. 

“They were totally the X-Men,” Phil agrees. 

* * * * * 

By 10.59am the War Machine is leading the US Army’s attack to reclaim the UN Headquarters, although they have to pull back when the attacks spread to Washington DC. Iron Man co-ordinates the New York defence, the Hulk smashes his way through three Skrull ships and the helicarrier crashes into New York Harbor. SHIELD continues their defence on foot led by a rabidly angry Director Fury, backed up by Assistant Director Hill and Jasper Sitwell who is seriously considering retiring. 

However, Dr Richards is the only one who is able to notice several more ships entering the Earth’s atmosphere. They’re significantly different to the Skrull ships and Reed groans inwardly as he realises that the party has been crashed by yet another alien species. 

The Kree have joined the fight. 

And they don’t seem to be fighting in defence of Earth.

Meanwhile, in Queens, Theodore Altman looks at the destruction from his bedroom window with the news channel on in the background. Not for one moment does he suspect that it might have anything to do with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eventually Phil and Clint discover what's going on but not before a few cars explode, a couple of alien races have a punch up in New York city and Tommy gets punched in the junk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm working a lot in the build up towards Christmas, so I might not be updating as frequently as I'd like.

Phil and Clint are cowering behind a dumpster as over twenty of New York’s finest participate in a gun battle with a squadron of Skrulls. It’s the first time Phil’s seen them in their actual form; they’re green skinned, which explains the dark green blood that Skrull Steve bled, and their ears are pointed which prompts Clint to call them, “Creepy-ass, evil elves,” 

The NYPD is getting their collective butts kicked by a superior alien race but their gunfire provides cover for a group of civilians to get down into the subway. Phil wishes that they could help but neither of them has anything on them that’s remotely weapon shaped. 

Clint’s phone rings, “Hey mom,” he says nervously, “No, I’m still at school,” There’s a crash as one of the Skrull weapons torches an abandoned car, “No, that’s just the TV, we’re watching the news,” Clint lies, “No, mom. Don’t come get me, stay where you are,” Clint tries to explain, “There’s nothing going on here, it’s all downtown. I’m safe I promise you,”

The phone cuts out. Clint looks a little sick.

“She’s at home with Annie and Michael,” Clint explains, “But she can’t get hold of my dad or Jeanie,”

“They’re fine,” Phil says without hesitation, “They’re probably undercover somewhere, unlike us,”

Before he can comfort Clint any more, there is a whoosh of hot air as another craft swoops low over the city. For a moment, Phil is worried for the lives of the police officers in the street. The craft launches a missile but it doesn’t hit the police officers, it’s fired over them and hits the Skrulls, leaving a smoking crater. 

“Whoa,” Clint says, “What the hell was that about?” 

They’re both standing up now, to see what just happened. But they’re spotted by one of the uniform officers, a particularly familiar one.

“Hey, you two,” Captain Stacy bellows, “Get out of the street, dammit,” 

They are both startled by the yell and begin to back away.

“I see you Phillip!” Captain Stacy bellows, “I’m telling your parents!” he carries on yelling after them as they run away.

“That’s Gwen’s dad,” Phil explains as they jog off, “He’s kind of scary,”

* * * * * 

They’re getting closer but they still have a way to walk. They’re out of the danger zone now, they only really encounter a few New Yorker who are beginning to pack up their valuables and drive away. Stores are locked up but know seems to have gotten to the looting stage yet. 

A car mounts the kerb in front of them and Kate winds down the window, “Hey, losers,” she calls out, “Get in,”

Clint leads the way and is disappointed to find that Tommy’s occupying the front seat, “I called shotgun,” Tommy explains.

He climbs into the backseat followed by Phil, “Phil, this is Tommy and Kate,” he introduces everyone, “Everyone this is Phil,”

“I recognise you from the news this morning,” Phil says, his lips pursed in disapproval. 

“This is the boyfriend?” Tommy asks, looking at Phil appraisingly, “Way to punch above your wait Clint,”

“Hey,” Clint says sounding a little hurt, “Kate, can you take us here?” he holds out the device to Kate. 

“I take it you don’t have a licence,” Phil frowns, “Whose car is this?” 

“It’s my dad’s,” Kate says unconcernedly, “And I can drive, I just don’t have a piece of paper that says I can do it legally, why are we going to Queens?”

“Aliens,” Clint says cryptically as Phil buckles up. 

“You know it would be quicker if we walked,” Tommy says sulkily. 

“For you maybe, not for everyone else,” Kate starts up the car and pulls away.

It doesn’t take them long to get there, although the streets are littered with empty cars and Kate has to do some impressive driving to manoeuvre around them. Finally they pull up outside a seemingly normal suburban house.

“This really wasn’t what I was expecting,” Clint says sounding disappointed. 

“Maybe this thing’s broken,” Phil says examining the device. 

“Maybe it’s super deep cover,” Tommy says conspiratorially, “Like hiding in plain sight,”

“Well, you won’t know until you go and knock on the door,” Kate says, sounding frustrated, “There’s something in the trunk for you, by the way,”

There is. Clint’s bow and quiver are waiting there for him, “I love you, Kate,” he says delightedly. 

Both Phil and Kate look unimpressed. 

“Aren’t you two coming with us,” Clint asks as he realises that only he and Phil have gotten out of the car. 

Tommy and Kate shoot each sideways look, “Listen, we don’t exactly know what’s going on, where you got that thing or who the Skrulls are,” Kate explains.

“So, we’re going to wait in the car,” Tommy nods.

“We’ll be like your backup,” Kate exclaims.

Clint stalks away muttering about half-assed superhero team he’s put together, Phil follows close behind.

* * * * * 

Teddy doesn’t expect the knock at the door but he answers it just the same; two kids his own age are waiting on the other side. One is taller than the other, dressed smartly but covered in dust and more than a little blood, he looks slightly apologetic as if he thinks he might have the wrong house. The other is shorter, stockier, definitely more muscled and carrying a freaking bow and arrow.

“Can I help you?” Teddy asks with a little frown, because really what are supposed to say to something like that. 

The taller one holds up what looks like a particularly sophisticated mobile phone to Teddy’s face. The device makes a beeping noise and the two look at each other, “He’s a Skrull,” the tall one says. 

Teddy is almost immediately tackled by the shorter guy; he’s knocked backwards into the hallway. The guy kneels on his chest and punches his shoulder, “Tell us what you’re doing here, you pointy eared, green bastard,”

Teddy’s really confused now, “Mom!” he bellows out. Teddy’s a pretty strong guy, he can dislodge this kid easily but he doesn’t want to hurt him, “There are some really weird guys at the door,” 

“Clint, maybe you shouldn’t sit on him,” the first one says, frowning slightly, “I’m not sure that’s going to help,” 

Teddy’s mom arrives just then and pauses in the hallway as if she’s trying to understand just what the hell is going on. She grabs Clint by the shoulders and pulls him off her son, really pulls because he basically goes flying down the hall. The other guy holds up the device to Teddy’s mom, it beeps again, “Another Skrull,” he announces.

“Uh-huh,” he friend moans, lying in the shattered remains of what used to be the telephone table. 

“What the hell is a Skrull?” Teddy demands. 

“Get upstairs Teddy,” his mom demands but Teddy ignores her because these are definitely crazy people and you don’t leave your mom alone with crazy people. 

“You’re an alien,” Clint explains, “Like one of those things smooshing New York, tell him Phil,”

Phil nods in agreement but then frowns, “Wait, why are we explaining this to you? You don’t know you’re an alien?” 

Teddy gives his mom a look, “I’m calling the cops,” he finally decides but Clint’s lying on top of the phone. 

“Teddy, don’t,” his mom says sounding anguished, “I have to tell you something…”

“Mom, what’s going on?” Teddy asks his voice shaky.

“You know how you told me you thought you might be a mutant?” she says, going over to him to place a hand on his shoulder. 

Teddy nodded. It was true he had been exhibiting some pretty unusual powers lately. He’d accidentally turned into Harrison Ford while watching Indiana Jones the other day…which was strange. 

“Well, in actual fact,” he mom continues, “We’re not from planet Earth,” 

* * * * * 

Tommy is singing loudly and obnoxiously to the radio, it’s actually pretty amazing that he found a station that’s still playing music, even if it’s REM’s End of the World as We Know it. He doesn’t know the words to the verse but sings along anyway and belts it when it comes to the chorus, tapping along on the dashboard. 

Kate is about to lose her mind. That is until three Skrulls drop out of the sky and head towards the Altman’s front door. They don’t see Kate and Tommy but that’s because Kate grabs Tommy around the middle and pulls him down.

“It’s the end of the world as we…” Tommy yelps as his singing is interrupted, “Oh Kate, I didn’t know you were interested in me like that…” he says as Kate presses herself against him.

“Shut up,” Kate snaps, punching him in the groin which silences the talking, reducing Tommy to quieter moans of pain, “We’ve got to go in there,” she say as the Skrull head up the driveway, looking completely out of place in the suburbs. 

“Oh great,” Tommy manages to choke out, “We’re going to get killed,”

* * * * * 

Teddy’s just taking in the fact that’s he’s really not from around here when his home is intruded by more unwelcome guests. The first pointy eared, green bastard (it really was an apt description) grabs hold of Phil and throws him into the living area. Clint reacts fast and fire on arrow at the offending alien; it hits it in the chest but barely slows him down.

Teddy remains rooted to the spot because his mom has just turned into one of the aliens. She pushes him out of the way and gets between him and the Skrulls. 

“You’re a traitor to your own kind,” one of them tells her. This really seems to get her mad, just like the time his third grade math teacher told her that he was a hopeless case. Only she’d didn’t throw his math teacher through a wall. 

“Whoa,” Clint gasps, “You’re mom is awesome,” he says, running over to the hole in the wall and watching as Teddy’s mom takes the fight outside.

Phil gets up and joins them, “I’m really not having a good day,” he grumbles, massaging the small of his back.

“You’re not having a good day!” Teddy exclaims, “I just found out I’m a freaking alien!” 

“Yeah, but you got some supercool shape shifting powers,” Clint shrugs, as if this was a bright side. Teddy glares at him. 

“Clint, you can be such an insensitive jackass,” Phil tells him. 

“Oh really, here we go again,” Clint rolls his eyes. 

Teddy stands back in amazement as the pair of them start bickering like an old married couple, “Are you two going out?” he interrupts. They both stop arguing but neither of them speaks; Teddy has his answer. 

They are joined by a girl holding yet another bow and arrows (surely there are more effective weapons out there) and a guy with white blonde hair who seems to be limping. 

“Sorry, I’m moving as fast as normal but Kate just punched me in the junk,” he complained. 

“I’m not sorry,” Kate replied. 

“If it makes you feel any better,” Clint shrugged, “I quite frequently want to punch you in the junk,”

“Phil!” Tommy whined, “Your boyfriend’s coming on to me,”

Teddy stands there in silent disbelief because right now, in his driveway, his mom is fighting a trio of aliens. And she’s also an alien. And he’s also an alien.

“What’s wrong with you people,” he demands.

They stay quiet; Phil replies with a shake of the head, “It’s uncertain,” 

Things get even more crazy when a freaking space ship crashes in the street outside, tearing up the road and smashing a few of the neighbours cars. They are going to have some complaints tomorrow. The five of them duck as the windows shatter, showering the carpet with glass

“What the hell is going on now?” Teddy groans. 

* * * * * 

Steve kicks opens the hatch to the stolen Skrull ship and staggers out into the bright sunlight. He can’t believe they actually escaped. 

“Aha,” Hank says triumphantly, exiting the craft after him, “I knew it. I told you; didn’t I tell you I could fly this thing?” 

“Never doubted you for a second Hank,” Steve says clapping him on the back. There were actually several seconds when they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere that Steve was certain that they were all doomed, but he’s not going to say that. He looks around, “Well, we’re in New York,” 

“Of course we are,” Hank scoffs, “I programmed the flight navigation system to meet with the other ships,”

“Which unfortunately means that New York is under attack,” he says, pointing out the battling Skrulls that seem to be tearing up a seemingly ordinary suburb. 

“Damn good thing we’re here,” Nick Fury steps out of the ship, armed with one of the biggest guns Steve has ever seen. He takes aim and fires, blowing the Skrulls to kingdom come. 

Steve’s horrified that when after his ears stop ringing he can hear the voices of children, he can’t make out what they’re saying but as he draws closer to the house he can make out the outline of a group of huddled people. He’s just about to call out to them when something hits him in the face; one of the Skrulls survived the attacks. 

“Stay away from my son,” it demands. 

Steve has no idea what it’s talking about but when he goes to hit back, something else hits him, “Stay away from my mom!”

It’s a kid, a lot shorter than Steve but strong enough to mean that his punch hurts. Steve doubles back because he’s sure as hell not hitting a kid, even one that appears to have green skin.

“Both of you stop hitting Captain America,” a familiar voice calls out and Phil scrambles through the wreckage towards them. 

The green skinned kid’s face falls and he looks appalled with himself, “Oh my god,” he gasps, “I am so sorry, I didn’t recognise you,”

“That’s OK,” Steve nods, he isn’t in the uniform and he has no idea where his shield is, “It didn’t hurt that much,” he blinks away the stars that seem to be floating in front of his eyes, “Phil, what’s going on,” he demands, “What are you doing here?”

“Well,” Phil takes a deep breath, “We think Teddy here might be a Skrull but the thing is he didn’t know about it, then these other Skrulls came along and attacked us by Teddy’s mom, who’s also a Skrull, fought them and then you blew them up,” he takes another breath, “And also New York is under attack,” 

“Thank you, very concise,” Steve says, but then notices Phil’s cut and scabbing arm, “What happened to you?” 

“Your doppelganger threw me across a room,” he shrugs, regarding his arm as if he just noticed that it was cut, “Hey, is that Director Fury?”

“We didn’t even know he’d been replaced,” Clint says clambering out of the destroyed house followed by two other kids Steve doesn’t recognise.

“That is a big gun,” Phil nods, sounding impressed. 

“I still don’t really understand what’s going on,” Teddy interrupts, looking from his mom to Captain America.

Steve’s doesn’t think he’ll be much help in this regard but the Skrull who claims to be the kid’s mom leads him towards the porch, which has kind of caved in, and sits him down to explain.

* * * * * 

Jasper Sitwell sits down on a fire hydrant and re-holsters his gun, “We are so screwed,” he groans. 

Maria Hill nods in agreement as she checks over the corpse of Nick Fury who moments ago was revealed to be a Skrull, “This is the highest level of infiltration I’ve ever seen,” she comments, “Nice shot by the way,”

Jasper reacted on instinct when Fury turned on them, firing once to the head and twice to the chest. He doesn’t have to use his gun that often these days but he’s quite pleased with how accurate his aim was, being the Avengers SHIELD liaison means that he already works with some of the most dangerous people in the world. He spends a lot of time thanking God they’re on their side. Jasper’s fifty-four now and he’s just counting the days down until he can retire. He’s sure as hell not going to die in this job; he wants his pension and his holiday home, thank you very much. 

“Look on the bright side,” Agent Jimmy Woo interrupts, “You’ve lived out the American Dream, you just killed your boss,” he exclaims. 

“Shut up Woo!” Jasper barks. Jimmy Wood is what Jasper was to Phil Coulson all those years ago; a reluctant apprentice and soon to be successor. Except in Jasper’s case he had to take over too soon from Coulson. 

Hill gets to her feet, a little too eager to resume command, and demands, “Somebody get me Dr Richards on the phone. I want him to explain to me why there are now some blue skinned aliens fighting the green skinned alien and just how the hell we can get them to stop,” 

* * * * * 

From what Clint can gather, this is what’s going on. Skrull and Kree have been fighting for hundreds over years for reasons neither side can quite fathom, they just hate each other. Once upon a time, Kree dude and a Skrull woman hooked up and had a baby, that’s Teddy. Teddy was supposed to be killed at birth but his nurse took him and smuggled him to Earth to raise him as her own, with the belief that one day he might be able to unite the two species. That sound like a lot of pressure to Clint and also very unlikely because the Kree want to use him to adapt their own kind to have to Skrulls shape shifting ability and the Skrulls just think he’s an abomination and want him dead. 

Anyway, there are two reasons to the Skrulls came to Earth. One, they want to get rid of Teddy, a guy who never hurt anyone in his whole life. And two, well it sounds like the Skrulls just like invading places. 

It’s at this point that the group kind of leave Teddy and his mom to talk by themselves because Teddy looks like he’s about to cry or break something. 

Clint and Phil sit on the edge of the sidewalk while Kate laments the loss of her father’s car that got somewhat smooshed by the arrival of the stolen Skrull ship while Tommy just bugs her. 

“I’m sorry I called you a nerd,” Clint mumbles.

“It’s OK,” shrugs Phil, “I’m sorry I made out that you were jealous…”

Clint interrupts him, “But the problem is I am,” he admits, “It was always just us, I always had you to myself but now you’re making friends and…I acted really childishly,” he finishes. 

“It’s OK,” Phil repeats, Clint hates how relaxed and un-angry he is, “It’s not like I wasn’t a little bit upset that you were making friends I didn’t know about,”

“Yeah, but now you’ve met them,” Clint says, pointing towards Kate and Tommy, “And they’re both idiots,”

“Heard that,” Kate snaps. 

Phil ignores her and leans over to kiss Clint, “We’re fine,” he reassures him, “It’s not like us fighting is the worst thing to happen to us recently,” he says.

“That’s true,” Clint agrees.

“I got thrown across a room by Captain America,” Phil says a little hysterically, “Literally thrown by my childhood hero, I’m traumatised,”

Clint can’t help but laugh, getting a little hysterical himself. Pretty soon, they’re both laughing with Tommy and Kate looking at them like they’ve gone mad. 

“Completely cracked,” Kate says rolling her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien invasion of New York concludes outside the Avengers Tower with Clint and Phil both stepping up to fight back.

Led by Captain America, the group moves out in order to regroup at the tower. New York is deserted, smaller targets have gone unaffected but nearly everyone is either fleeing the city or hiding away from the fighting going on outside. The group remains in silence; Fury is still holding the gun, Clint and Kate have their bows but the rest of them are unarmed. Steve feels strange without his shield and doesn’t feel good about leading a group of teenagers through the battle zone without any kind of protection. 

By the time they make it back to plaza outside the tower, Steve can here just how close the fighting is. He looks up at the tower he had called home for the past fifteen years to survey the damage. It’s much worse than the Chitauri invasion; the entire south facing side of the five top floors has been caved in. 

“You were up there?” Steve asks Phil who has moved up the group to stand next to him.

“Yep,” Phil says, trying to sound casual but he’s just a kid he gets scared, “Tony had an emergency exit though, me and Happy…well, we got out of there alive,” 

“We need to get in contact with the other,” Steve announces, in full leader mode, “Someone needs to go up to one of the labs and re-establish radio contact,”

“I can do that,” Phil announces, and Steve’s fairly certain he can. Phil’s a smart kid and more often than not when Tony and Bruce are explaining how the various pieces of equipment the Avengers use work, Phil’s listening and learning. He runs towards the tower determinedly. 

“Tell them that we need to drive the enemy into the plaza,” Steve instructs him, “The Kree and the Skrulls should both be heading this way,” 

“Because I’m bait?” Teddy guesses, on their way here he changed back into his human form but at the merest mention of further fighting he changes. 

“That’s right,” Steve tells him reluctantly, “But I won’t let anything happen to you,” he tells him emphatically, “All of you need to take cover,” he instructs the collected assortment of children. 

These few words have them up in arms. 

“Uh, how come Phil gets to help and I just have to hide?” Clint demands, “That’s not fair,”

“You’re pretty dumb you think I’m just going to hide when I’m the one they’re looking for,” Teddy scoffs.

“You actually tell us what to do,” Kate confirms.

Steve sighs and grits his teeth, “For God’s sake you’re all children,” he tells them, “None of you are even old enough to drive,” 

“Don’t need to drive,” Tommy shrugs, “I can run faster than a car,”

“You might be fighting a losing battle here Cap,” Fury shrugs.

Steve doesn’t so much agree to the situation as just then Iron Man comes careening around a building and bounces three times off of the road before skidding to a halt in front of him. 

“Steve!” Tony exclaims, as the faceplate is removed, “Nice to have you back, although I didn’t realise notice that you’d gone anywhere,” he looks around at the asserted new faces, “Oh look, you made some new friends,”

* * * * * 

It doesn’t take Phil long to get up to the conference room. It’s too far to go up to Tony’s laboratory although it is better equipped. He makes do though, taking the seat at the head of the table and putting on an earpiece.

“JARVIS, are you still there?” he asks cautiously. 

“I am still online, although my functions are somewhat limited,” JARVIS replies and Phil sighs in relief. 

“It’s good to hear your voice,” Phil grins, “Can you patch me into the Avengers, SHIELD, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men…in fact anyone out there who’s able to help,”

“Scanning for available frequencies,” 

“Locate those frequencies and put them on the 3D imaging map,” Phil instructs. A three-dimensional map of New York appears in the middle of the conference table complete with a variety of coloured dots that are moving rapidly around the city: the Skrulls, the Kree and Earth’s mightiest heroes, “That’s awesome JARVIS,” Phil gushes, he loves StarkTech. Tony Stark can be kind of annoying sometimes but he is undoubtedly a genius, “I need anyone on this frequency to reconvene on Stark Plaza,” he announces. 

“Who the hell is this?” someone demands. It sounds remarkably like Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.

“Dammit kid, get off the line,” someone actually growls at him. 

“This is Phil Coulson,” he says, trying to sound grown up, “Now lead the aliens to Stark Plaza where we can contain them, Captain America is waiting for you there,”

“Phil!” someone who sounded like Jasper Sitwell rejoiced over the radio. 

“OK, Phil,” Dr Richards replied, “The Thing and I are coming your way with about seven Kree on our tails,”

“Thank you Mister Fantastic,” Phil confirmed, “I need Cyclops, Storm and Iceman to back them up,” 

“We’re on it,” Cyclops replied over the radio, “SHIELD really is recruiting them young,” he added, Phil didn’t bother correcting him. 

“Thor?” Phil asked, “Are you there?”

“Yes, friend Phillip,” Thor voice boomed loudly over the radio, “I am on top of the Empire State Building with several of the Kree invaders,”

“Can you lead them towards the plaza?” 

“I require a distraction,” Thor added. 

“I’m on it!” Johnny Storm answered. 

“This is Hill,” the Assistant Director, “SHIELD forces are coming up to the plaza with about two dozen Skrulls in pursuit, be prepared,” 

“Captain, did you catch that?” Phil said. 

“We’re prepared,” Steve replied curtly, “I don’t have my shield though,” 

Phil looked around the conference room before spotting the shield propped up against a wall, “You’ve got to stop leaving this thing lying around,” he muttered, mostly to himself, “Tell Clint that if he gets killed, I’m going to kill him,”

* * * * * 

The group watched, hypnotised, as the shield was thrown out of the tower and sail at full speed towards the ground. 

“You’ll never catch that,” Clint said, seeing Steve’s determined look. 

“Yes, I will,” Steve said rushing forward as the shield headed towards him. 

Clint missed the moment when the Captain caught the shield because he was distracted by a convoy on SHIELD vehicles speeding up the street towards them, pursued by about five small crafts each with several aliens hanging out of them. 

Clint took a deep breath and took aim.

“I hate you for bringing me into this,” Kate muttered at his side, “This is freaking ridiculous,”

The battle isn’t how Clint would have imagined it. It isn’t cool and in slow motion like the movies. He barely has time to the think; there’s no strategy, he acts blindly in order to defend himself. They’re being attacked on all sides so Clint doesn’t even have time to see if he’s aiming at Kree or Skrull. Fury, along with Mrs Altman, doesn’t stray more than five metres away from him, Kate and Teddy. But Tommy seems to have disappeared, he’s either become a blur of movement or he got frightened and ran away, Clint wouldn’t blame him if he did. 

Kate and Clint have taken a position towards the outside of the fighting, cornered up against the fountain that Clint and Phil used to have lunch next to. They attempt to pick off stray combatants that have gone unnoticed by the others. Clint hits a Skrull that gets too close to Cyclops and Kate hits a couple of Kree who are attempting to pin Thor. 

However, soon enough, one of the Skrull craft turns its attention towards them and fires a missile in their direction. Clint’s is just picturing the shoebox that his parents would have to bury his remains in when something knocks them both to the ground. Clint gets the general impression of green before he’s almost deafened by a roar. 

The Hulk straightens up and knocks the Skrull ship out of the sky. He turns around to face Kate and Clint, who are both still cowering on the ground. It’s the first time that Clint has seen the Hulk and it’s so disorientating to see the normally serenely calm face of Dr Banner so angry, as well as big and green. The Hulk roars again but this time it’s directed at them and it seems to imply that they should get out of the way. 

They dive behind a stone bench, away from the battle, but before they can take cover they’re waylaid by two more Skrulls. A green and muscled Teddy Altman knocks them down and swats them out of the way. 

“Whoa,” Clint smiles, “Pretty awesome,”

“Thanks,” Teddy shrugs and they get behind the bench, “This is bad,” he mumbles to himself. 

Tommy appears out of nowhere, “Hey guys,” he says, “That’s the X-Men out there, that’s so cool. Oh, whoa Teddy, you’re green. You’re like the Hulk,” Tommy seems to talk even faster when he’s frightened, “You’re a Hulkling,”

“Every time you talk,” Teddy tells him, “My brain hurts. Has anyone seen my mom?” 

* * * * * 

Phil watched through the wide window at the battle unfolding before him. He really wanted to go down there, but he wasn’t stupid; he couldn’t handle a weapon, he wasn’t super strong. If he went down there he would more than likely be killed. 

“Wise decision, staying up here,” a voice said behind him. 

Phil yelped in an undignified unfashion and whirled around to face a Kree soldier, standing a few feet away from him, “Who are you? How did you get up here?” 

“There’s a rather large whole in the building,” the Kree commented, “And I am Mar-Vell, one of the Kree commanders,”

“Uh-huh,” Phil nodded, “And how can I help you?” he asked calmly. 

“We need to stop this fighting,” Mar-Vell said, “I am authorised to begin negotiations,”

“That’s good,” Phil perked up, “But why with me?”

Mar-Vell frowned, “We assumed you were the leader,” he said, “You are giving the others orders,”

Phil pulled a face, “I’m fifteen years old,” he explained.

Mar-Vell looked unphased, “The Kree are willing to leave Earth and not return uninvited,” he stated, “However, we will not leave without Dorrek VIII,”

“Dorrek VIII?” Phil asked, confused, “Oh, do you mean Teddy?” 

“Yes, Teddy,” Mar-Vell said distastefully. 

“You know I’m not really authorised to tell a person where they can and can’t go,” Phil shrugged, “That’s kind of something that most humans disagree with,” 

“Yes, our research did tell us that,” Mar-Vell commented. 

“So, we kind of have a problem,” Phil sighed, “And besides, there’s still the Skrull,”

“The Kree have no control over what the Skrulls do,” Mar-Vell said haughtily.

“Yes, but you see Teddy’s part Kree, and part Skrull,” Phil explained, “But neither has a claim to him because he lives here,”

Mar-Vell paused for a moment, “I do not wish to be party to removing a child from their home, but Dorrek can be part of something important,”

“Uniting the Skrull and the Kree?” Phil asked.

“At the very least he could stop the fighting,” Mar-Vell added. 

“Then I’ll do it,” Teddy entered the room, still in his human form, “I’ll go with you,”

Phil shot Teddy a look; he hadn’t even notice that he’d come into the room, “Teddy, you don’t have to do this,” he warned him, “There are other ways,”

“People could get hurt,” Teddy replied quickly, “And I can stop it, there are people I care about down there,”

Mar-Vell shot Teddy an appraising look, “You would not have to stay away for long,” he told him, “One Earth year with the Kree, one Earth years with the Skrulls,” 

Teddy nodded grimly, “Call the others off and then I’ll go with you,” 

“I do not have the authority,” Mar-Vell says, “But once you leave the planet, the others will follow,” 

Teddy looks determined, and nods jerkily. 

“Teddy, are you sure?” Phil interrupts.

“Phillip, yes,” Teddy tells him, “There are people that I care about out there, and I need you to tell them that I love them,” 

And that’s when Phil gets it. He’s not talking to Teddy; he’s talking to Teddy’s mom. She is going to take her son’s place. Phil tries not to react, instead, he nods solemnly. 

“I will, don’t worry,” he tells her before turning to Mar-Vell, “You know I watch a lot of science fiction and this is not how you make first contact, I don’t expect you’ll have many friends here so don’t come back for a while,” 

“Agreed,” Mar-Vell says serenely. He and Teddy’s mom blink out of existence suddenly. 

* * * * * 

Clint, Kate, Tommy and Teddy are still hiding behind the bench when the battle ends, with a startling suddenness. The Kree have some kind of teleporting technology so they’re able to leave as fast as they appeared and the Skrulls pile back into their craft that aren’t being stamped on by the Hulk. A silence falls quickly over the plaza that’s broken by a whooping cheer.

“Yeah, you better run!” Johnny Storm bellows, classy always. 

* * * * * 

Clean up begins immediately, debriefing takes hours. Clint and Phil sit in a room for about two hours with an exhausted looking Jasper Sitwell as they argue about just who is going to tell the story best. Jasper eventually completes the post-alien incursion form and crosses out amendments Clint made with a purple biro.

“Just go,” he sighs, “The pair of you make me feel really old,”

Phil and Clint leave without another word and hurry out of the tower, where the debriefing took place. Clint really has to get home and Phil wants to go to the hospital to see Happy, who they both learned is going to be just fine.

“OK, so what elaborate lie am I going to tell my parents this time?” Clint asks Phil who is surprisingly good at thinking up convincing lies. 

“Just tell them you went to Kate’s house because its closer and the phone were down, which they probably still are,” Phil says coolly, “And maybe you should leave your bow and arrow here,” 

They’re still ambling along and discussing the finer points of the battle when they encounter Teddy sitting by himself in the corridor, obviously having come from his own debriefing. He looks miserable, Phil can sympathise, in the space of a few hours his entire understanding of what it means to be himself has been shattered and he’s lost the only person he had in the world. 

“Your mom really loves you,” Phil tells him, sitting down quietly next to him, “She wanted me to tell you that,”

“She lied to me your whole life,” Teddy replies tearfully. 

“Yes, but when it came for the time for you to leave Earth,” Phil explains, “She knew you weren’t ready, so she protected you because she loves you and that’s all that matters,”

Clint nods. They both know that it’s more than possible to be loved by parents that aren’t yours by birth and Phil knows just what it’s like to lose them.

“Are you going to stay at the tower?” Clint asks him. 

“Oh god no,” Teddy says, a little too quickly, “This place is crazy, and there’s a whole in the building,” 

“Yeah, that happens a lot,” Phil sighs, remembering that his own apartment was probably obliterated by the explosion. 

“No, I’m getting out of here,” Teddy shakes his head, “Away from the Avengers, away from SHIELD, away from all of you crazy people. I’ll probably go stay with my boyfriend Billy and his parents, they’ll have me,”

“Well, good luck,” Phil says holding his hand out for Teddy to shake. 

“Don’t be a stranger,” Clint adds. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Teddy replies sounding unimpressed, “I’ll come back as soon as you pick a better weapon than a bow and arrow,”

Clint looks as shocked as if Teddy had insulted his mother, “Take it back,”

“It’s stupid,” Teddy tries to explain, “You can only carry about twelve arrows,”

“I had forty five,” Clint says indignantly. 

The arguing pretty much escalates from there. 

* * * * * 

Phil gets to the hospital after his extensive debriefing and after Steve insists that someone take a look at his arm. Pepper is waiting outside Happy’s room and, when she sees him, swoops him into an angry hug. 

“Phillip, don’t you ever do anything like that to me again,” she tells him, crying into his hair. 

“I’m sorry Pepper,” Phil mumbles, and he is because he’s sorry he hurt her and he’s sorry that he’ll probably do something like this again. Because, talking to all those superheroes over the radio, strategizing and coordinating them just felt right. 

He’s probably going to take Nick Fury up on that offer he made him the second time they met. 

“Phil, I love you like my own son,” she tells him sincerely, guessing what he was thinking of “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” 

“I’m going to try not to,” Phil tells her seriously. 

* * * * * 

Kate and Clint are still lingering around the tower, reluctant to go home right away, when Captain America comes up to them. 

“You were really great today,” he say sincerely, “And maybe it’s about time someone else took up the Hawkeye title,” he nods sadly. 

Clint thinks he’s about to explode with happiness as Steve walks away, he turns to Kate to see a similar look on his face.

“What are you grinning about?” she demands, “He was talking to me,”

“No, he wasn’t,” Clint insists, “Why would he be talking to you?”

“Oh, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t be Hawkeye,” she shrugs. 

“Not. On. Your. Life,” Clint says, narrowing his eyes. 

“I’m not going to fight with you about this,” Kate says, standing very close, “Because we both know I’ll win,”

Clint sees that they’re going to have a problem here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. I'm going to try to finish this installment before Christmas, do a brief Christmas special and then do another story after Boxing Day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life continues after the Skrull Invasion for Phil and Clint though things might be getting a little more difficult to keep secret. They both make a decision about how to carry on their ambitions of superheroism.

Things go back to normal pretty soon after that. 

For once Clint’s parents aren’t mad at him for disappearing off of the face of the Earth. They buy his explanation about taking shelter at Kate’s house; his dad’s even applauds his smart thinking. But they don’t know that he was pretty much in the middle of everything. 

They are however, reluctant to let him go back to the tower for what they think is work experience. 

“It’s too dangerous,” his mom tells him as she dishes up spaghetti at the dinner table, “I don’t want you going back there,”

Clint’s mouth drops open because before now he’d spent pretty much most of his time outside school there. It’s his only way of spending any time with Phil. 

“What? No,” he exclaims loudly. 

“Tell him Dan,” his mom says turning to his dad for back up. 

“She’s right Clint,” he agrees, “Any trouble that happens in this city always begins at that tower,”

“But dad,” Clint whines, “It’s important and it looks really good on college applications,” 

He adds this last part to intentionally get his mom’s attention. She desperately wants him to go to college; Jeanie’s just transferred to NYU and Annie’s taking part time community college courses. She wants to have all three of her children to have a college education but Clint’s never expressed an interest until now. 

“Are you serious Clint?” she demands sharply, “Don’t mess me around. What is it you want to study?” she asks. 

Clint has no clue, he hates nearly every lesson at school, “Erm…I don’t know,” he clutches at straws, “I was thinking business or finance,” he blurts out.

Annie snorts with laughter as she feeds Mikey mushed banana, “Yeah, good luck with that Clint,” she says.

“I don’t know,” his mom continues as they start to eat, “I’m still not sure about you going back there, maybe if I knew more about what you were doing,”

“Why can’t we meet your supervisor?” his dad asks, “What was his name? Mr Hogan,”

“I don’t know about that,” Clint frowns, “He’s usually really busy,”

“I’ll call him about a meeting,” his mom decides, “And then…maybe you can go back,”

Clint twists his spaghetti viciously around his fork and glares at his salad. 

* * * * * 

The meeting takes place on one of the lower levels of Avengers tower as most of the building is still undergoing repairs. Clint drags his feet behind his mom and dad as they collect visitor badges from security and make their way up to Pepper’s office. They were originally going to see Happy but when Clint explained that he was still recovering from being hit from some shrapnel during the Skrull attack, they weren’t very happy. 

Pepper’s waiting at her desk, trying to look casual but Clint can read her like a book. She’s hated lying to Clint’s parents from the start; a face to face meeting is just going to crack her, he knows it. 

“Mr and Mrs Harrison, it’s so good to finally meet you,” she gets to her feet to shake their hands and ushers them to sit down, “I’m Ms Potts, you could say I’m one of Clint’s superiors,” 

Clint’s parents sit down on the opposite side of Pepper’s desk while Clint drags over another chair from the other side of the room. 

“Clint’s really been doing some great work for us,” Pepper begins.

“I’ve never really grasped what Stark Enterprises could use a teenager for,” Clint’s dad thinks out loud, “What exactly is he doing her?” 

Pepper blinks for a moment before continuing, “Well, Clint’s been observing and learning how a number of departments work,” she lies through her teeth, “He’s really a very bright young man,” 

Clint’s heart sinks as he sits down because sitting on Pepper desk, in pride of place, is a freaking picture of Phil. Clint despairs at the oversight because the whole point of this venture was to allow him to keep seeing Phil without his parents even knowing that he was still alive. Because if that happened Clint imagines it wouldn’t be long before to whole reincarnation thing to come tumbling out and Clint’s really not ready for that. 

Clint’s mom looks affectionately at him as she listens to Pepper’s praise; she ruffles his hair in a way that makes him feel like his five years old. Clint tries to bat her off but she cannot be deterred. 

It’s not long before both of them spot the photograph on Pepper’s desk and then it’s all over. Clint just about to lunge across the table and knocks the picture frame over, when the door swings open and Tony Stark sweeps into the room. 

There’s something particularly embarrassing about his appearance because Clint’s mom has a huge crush on him. It’s really, really embarrassing because she quiets them all down when he comes on TV and she even has his stupid calendar. She makes a yelp of surprise as he sits himself down on Pepper’s desk, knocking over the photograph. Clint relaxes, only slightly. 

“Clint, I thought you were bringing your mother, not your sister,” 

Clint almost vomits; because that’s a terrible line and because that’s his mother. Clint’s dad doesn’t look too pleased either. 

“Tony, this is Mary and Daniel Harrison,” Pepper says, trying and failing to shove him off the desk, “I was just talking to them about Clint’s internship,”

“Oh yeah,” Tony waves a hand towards Clint, “He’s great with all his…interning,”

Clint turns a bright shade of red because his mom is actually giggling, giggling like a schoolgirl. 

They’re interrupted again when the door opens again and Natasha slips into the room, she marches over to Tony grabs him by the arm and insistently tugs, “Come on Mr Stark, there’s some important business for you to take care of,” she says through gritted teeth.

Tony look disappointed and before he leaves kisses Clint’s mom’s hand, but is scared off by equal glares from Clint and his dad. 

“Clint, perhaps if you could step out of the room for a moment, I could speak to your parents,” Pepper says kindly. 

Clint escapes as fast as he can. Out in the corridor he finds Tony and Natasha embroiled in pinching fight that makes him despair of adults. He also finds Steve, Bruce and Thor waiting in the corridor with them.

“What is wrong with you?” he demands, in an angry whisper, “What are you all doing here?” 

They have the good grace to look a little chastened, “We just wanted to meet your parents,” Bruce shrugs. 

“No, no, never, no,” Clint says trying to herd them down them down the hallway, “It was bad enough Tony started flirted with my mom,” he says, giving Tony a particularly hard shove. 

“Tony!” Steve says, sounding shocked. 

“I was being friendly,” Tony says defensively. 

Clint doesn’t understand why every adult in his life goes out of their way to mortify him. He’s just managed to herd the Avengers around the corner when the door opens and Clint’s dad steps out, looking awkward and out of place in his work boots.

“Something’s going on here, isn’t it Clint?” he asks. 

“Nope, nothing,” Clint says, trying to sound innocent.

“Yeah, well,” his dad replies sounding unconvinced, “Whatever it is, be careful,”

“It’s nothing dad,” Clint insists but his dad gets that look on his face he gets whenever Clint tries to lie to him; the ‘oh really, so you didn’t scratch the car with your bike look’.

Pepper and his mom come out next and apparently it only took them twenty minutes to become best friends. She seems a little more at ease about Clint hanging around the tower but as they leave together, she punches Clint lightly on the shoulder. 

“You didn’t tell me you actually met Tony Stark!” she exclaims, “I may never forgive you, Clint,” she jokes.

“Mom,” Clint says, burying his face in his hands. 

* * * * * 

It takes a few days for Midtown High to reopen; people tend to panic about letting their children out of their sight after an alien invasion. Phil meets Peter at the gates who, rather than being frightened by the prospect of an invasion, is ecstatic. He demands to know what it was like in the centre of it all and rather than tell him just how involved he was, Phil shrugs.

“Kinda weird,” Phil says, “We just got evacuated and hid in the subway,” 

Peter nods, somewhat disappointedly, “My Uncle Ben made us hide in the basement but then the pipes start leaking,” he sighs, “Soaked my new sneakers,”

They’re just walking to their first classes when Phil’s nearly knocked off of his feet by the force of a tackle-hug. Phil stops himself from lashing out when he hears Clint’s delighted chuckled. 

“Hi Phil,” Clint grins, “It’s me,”

“Hello Clint,” Phil says straight faced, even as Clint still clings to his side. 

“This is my school now,” he keeps grinning.

“That’s nice,” Phil replies, “Just don’t sit next to me in class, I don’t want to be associated with the weird new kid,” he jokes. 

“I am going to drastically increase your coolness rating,” Clint replies, kissing him on the cheek, “I’m your hot boyfriend,”

“Hi Clint,” Peter says awkwardly because they aren’t many things Peter doesn’t do awkwardly. 

“Hey Pete,” Clint replies, “Sorry I didn’t stick around to talk the last time we met,”

“S’OK,” Peter shrugs, “Listen, I have to get to class,” he says trying to slip away. 

Phil helps himself to Clint’s timetable that already crumpled up in his hands, “Oh look,” he says delightedly, “Clint’s with you in English,” he says, opening Clint’s backpack and carefully replacing the timetable, “Run along and go learn,” he says, shoving Clint alongside Peter.

Clint looks reluctant, “What about you?” he says.

“I have American History,” Phil tells him, “But I’ll see you in chemistry afterwards,”

Clint drags his feet after a nervous Peter. Phil wonders if either of them are actually going to exchange a word without him there. Peter’s no good at social situations and Clint can be a little unfriendly sometimes but really wants the pair of them to get along. 

* * * * * 

They’re reading The Tempest in class so the teacher has them split up into pairs and read through a few scenes together. Clint and Peter read together in a monotone until they get bored and realise that no one else in the class is reciting Shakespeare. 

“So, you and Phil have been friends for a long time,” Peter asks eventually. 

“Since we were ten,” Clint replies.

“But this thing is more recent,” Peter continues. 

“About a year,” Clint says, “Why are you staring at that blonde girl?” Clint finally asks. Throughout the class, Peter’s attention has been half on his book and half on a girl sitting at the front of the class. 

“What? I’m not staring,” Peter says defensively, snapping out of his stupor and sitting up. 

“You’re staring,” Clint corrects, “You like her,” he teases. 

“What? No, shut up,” Peter blushes bright red. 

“Her name’s Gwen, right?” Clint prods for more information, “You talk to her?”

“I don’t talk,” Peter says fiddling with his pen, “I mumble and she looks at me like I’m an idiot,”

Clint laughs because he knows what it’s like to be tongue tied around a person you like, “You should just be honest, get it out in the open,” Clint tells him, “It’s better to know one way or the other, rather than spend your life wondering,”

“If you say so,” Peter says looking unimpressed, “But I don’t think she’d be interested,” 

“You never know until you try,” Clint shrugs.

Peter bites his lip and looks uncertainly towards Gwen, “Maybe one day,” he says wistfully.

* * * * * 

A couple of days later and Phil is getting used to seeing Clint around school. They don’t have every class together but during the classes that they do share Phil finds himself doing less and less work. Clint is distracting; both intentionally and unintentionally. He’ll delight in trying to put his hand on Phil’s knee under the desk and look perturbed when Phil slaps his hand away with his pen but at the same time even when he’s frowning over his maths book, Phil will find himself staring slightly open mouthed at him. Gwen spends a lot of her time laughing at him now. 

In regards to Gwen, shortly after the invasion, Phil’s waiting for Clint outside the school gates. Clint may not enjoy schoolwork as much as Phil does but the Gym Department loves him; he’s just joined the school and he’s already on the gymnastics team and is being persuaded to have a go at soccer , but Clint’s not much of a team player. So Phil’s waiting for him to change after gym, a little upset that he doesn’t get to see Clint changing but almost certain that he’d embarrass himself if he did. 

A car pulls up to the curb and the driver’s side window is rolled down revealing Captain Stacy, looking absolutely terrifying as usual, “Hey Phil, get over here,” he demands. 

Phil recalls that the last time he saw Captain Stacy; he was running through the streets of New York trying to avoid Skrulls. Phil uncertainly goes to meet him at the car with the feeling that he’s about to get shouted at, “Hello, Captain Stacy,” he says trying not to show nerves, because he suspects nervousness is what sustains him. 

“You’re a good kid, Coulson,” he tells him matter-of-factly, “But there’s something off about you,”

“Sorry about that,” Phil apologises before he realises he’s doing it. 

“Stay away from my daughter, Coulson,” he tells him fiercely, “You’re dangerous and I don’t want her involved,” 

“Yes, Captain Stacy,” Phil replies politely, “But you might have to tell her that,” 

“Don’t be a smartass Phil,” Stacy says, “And I don’t want to see you around her again,”

“We go to the same school…” Phil frowns. 

“What did I just say about being a smartass?” 

“Don’t be one,”

“Exactly,” 

“Dad!” Gwen exclaims loudly from behind them, “What are you doing?” 

She’s standing just beside Phil, clutching an armful of books and supporting a frown as fierce as her father’s.

“Nothing,” Stacy says, “Just talking to Phil here,”

Phil steps out of the way as Gwen gets into the front passenger seat, “I’m so sorry about this Phil,” she apologises before beginning to berate her father, “Why can’t you act like a normal human being?” she demands. 

Phil can still hear them arguing as they drive away. 

* * * * * 

Pepper makes the decision that the three of them should move out of the tower and into their own place. Their apartment in the tower was on the floor that had the most structural damage so they take the opportunity to collect their surviving possessions and move to an outrageously expensive apartment building a few blocks away from the apartment. 

“It feels good to be away from the tower,” Pepper says as she oversees the unpacking, “To have a place that’s just our own,”

“Oh yeah, two blocks away,” Happy mumbles under his breath, “Big move,”

Phil sniggers before turning around to see the bizarre sight of Captain America and Thor struggling to carry a couch up the stairs and arguing as they do so. 

“The other left Thor!”

“There is no other left!” Thor says, dropping the couch in defeat. 

“I mean the right,” Steve sighs in frustration.

Tony staunchly refuses to do any heavy lifting but is instead tearing apart the place trying to make the television connect to the toaster or something like that. Natasha and Clint are making themselves more useful by carrying and unpacking boxes. 

“Phil, why don’t you and Clint take your boxes to your new room,” Pepper tells them, “I’m going to kill Tony before he destroys the place,” she says with a forced smile. 

Phil and Clint grabs a couple of boxes and retreat to his new room, empty accept for the bed and desk. 

“It’s not as big as your last one,” Clint comments. 

“I don’t mind,” Phil replies, tipping one of the boxes out onto the bed, his Captain America action figure comes tumbling out and Clint immediately snatches it up. 

“Remember when we used to play with these all the time?” Clint smiles wistfully. 

“Feels like a long time ago,” Phil replies with a faint smile.

“It was,” Clint says, “Playing doesn’t seem so fun anymore,”

“That’s because it’s become real life,” Phil comments, picking up the Captain America card Clint gave him; he had it encased in Lucite for protection and it feels comfortingly heavy as he turns it over in his hands. 

“Kate, Tommy and I are going to carry on with the whole…crime fighting thing,” Clint says making the Captain America action figure do the splits, “I know you think it’s dumb, but just don’t tell the others,”

Phil frowns, he had been very close to telling the Avengers when Clint and his friends had stopped that robbery, “OK,” he decides eventually, “But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly,”

Clint perks up at this, “Really? Wait, what do you mean, we?”

“It means I’m in charge here,” Phil says, doing what he hopes is his best Captain America voice, “No more roaming the streets and hoping we’ll run into crime, we do what I say and no one gets hurt,” 

“You’re kidding right?” Clint says, positively beaming now, “You’re going to be the leader? I thought I was going to be the leader,”

Phil gives him a withering look, “Of course I’m going to be the leader,” he informs him.

“Alright then,” Clint concedes like Phil knew he would, “Well, what are we going to call ourselves? The Young Avengers?”

“Clint, that is so unbelievably lame,” Phil rolls his eyes. 

“Well, I don’t know I’m not the leader,” Clint says defensively but all the while edging closer to Phil. He’s noticed that Clint seems to have gotten more tactile of late. He wraps his arms around Phil’s waist, “I’m just a pretty face,”

“A little more than a pretty face,” 

“Oh yeah?”

“You have very nice arms as well,” Phil tells him.

“You only love me for my body,” Clint says melodramatically.

“No,” Phil tells him seriously, thinking very hard about it, “I just love you,” 

“I love you too,” Clint replies, “Even though you’re incredibly mushy,”

Clint gives him a playful shove and Phil falls down to the bed; playful wrestling with potential to turn into something more ensues until they’re interrupted by Pepper’s voice.

“For God’s sake Tony, we just moved in, please don’t destroy the place,” she yells through the door, “You boys keep this door open and behave yourselves,” she warns them. 

There’s several loud thumps as the couch Thor and Steve are carrying slides back down the stairs, followed by a crack and a sudden lack of lights as whatever Tony was doing to the house blows up in his face. 

Phil sighs and wonders if he and Clint will ever get a moment’s peace.


End file.
